Drifting on something like Forza (an unfair comparison, but bear with me), requires judicious use of the throttle, counter steering and having the speed just so. On the other hand, Drifting has been really dumbed down, for want of a better phrase. As the difficulty rises, the roads get busier, and hitting another car or a wall while driving as fast as you can will destroy your vehicle and result in a DNF. Don’t think that these drags take place on a nice straight, empty track however these are drag races on undulating, twisty city streets complete with traffic. The new race types add a great deal to Payback, with Drag races challenging us to use only manual gears to win a drag race. Once the crew hits the streets, more race types are opened up for them to take part in – the aforementioned Drift, Drag and Runner events – which are taken on by the respective racers. Beating the leagues outside the city will see the crew’s horizons expand as they return to the City, to “take back the streets” from the dastardly House, who are trying to control all racing in their sphere of influence. Off road racing is exactly as you’d expect too – long lairy drifts through the dirt, big air from the lumps and bumps and close, fender to fender racing as you try to bully your way to the front. Thankfully though the racing is as fast and frantic as you’d expect a blur of drifted corners, nitrous filled straights and head on collisions with oncoming traffic as I tried to fight my way to first place. It’s a fantastic way to see whether you will like the game, and for free, what have you got to lose? Having played and reported on the trial in an earlier article, the full game awaited, and I dived right on in.

It is limited, in that it will only allow you to play a certain amount of the story, and only allows you to play the race and off road events.

For those of you wishing to try before you buy, EA Access is offering a 10 hour trial for free to members of the program.

Need for speed payback 2 new garages