I played NFS the original when I got my first computer. Many of the folks I race now here in LFS were starting Kindergarden or the European equivelant when I first had that game. It was awesome back then, until I found Indycar Racing 2 which was more real. Then I didn't have a PC upgrade until last year when I tried NFS Porsche (was that 5?). Coming from only seeing the original NFS, I thought Porsche was awesome, for what it was. I was also starting with NR2002 then, just jumped on Porsche for some fun. I've never tried Underground or any of the NFS series after Porsche, it just all looked too Hollywood. Now NFS is just a game, like GT3 and GT4 where you have to upgrade, buy parts, etc. LFS is not a game, there is NO game play. It is strickly racing other people, just you, the track, and your opponents. Nothing to buy, nothing to upgrade, nothing to unlock, no game play whatsoever. And that is so much more satisfying getting online nightly and racing with your new found friends rather than beating a game. EA and the others only want to make profit. Where is the profit? It's designing games for 8 year olds to whatever age to run and buy every year. Simulation is where it's at with racing. The simulation community is now huge and growing daily as those 8, 10, 12 year olds from the Sony Playstation 1 era "racing" game fans are growing up. Someday, the simulation community will be as big as the gaming community, but we have a long way to go yet. Simulations are the only things loaded on my computer now, LFS, NR2003, and Microsoft Flight Sim. I no longer play ANY games on the computer!