I decided to make an analysis about the different driving styles cars have in this game, and how pleasurable it is to drive them.

Here goes my top 5 list for the most pleasurable cars to drive in the entire game. Remember, this is about the pleasure of driving the cars, and not about how quick they actually are, although speed is one of the important factors considered.

# 5. 918 Spyder

Stats: 8,8 acceleration; 388kph/241mph top speed; 8,7 control; 4.5/5 true control

The 918 takes advantage of being AWD for top tier acceleration and really good grip, making it great at sticking to the road when cornering.  But it also means it is quite understeery, and needs precise, aggressive inputs to drift (a single tap in the brakes is almost never enough), which is its main weakness. It pays off by having smooth drifts, if done properly.

# 4. Koenigsegg One:1

Stats: 9,5 acceleration; 452kph/281mph top speed; 7,4 control; 4/5 true control

There isn’t really much to say about this car: it’s by far the fastest in the game. Has good handling and drifting, and its main downside is probably that it is too fast and might lose control more often, which makes it a bit harder to drive.

# 3. Audi R8 

Stats: 8,1 acceleration; 380kph/236mph top speed; 7,9 control; 4.5/5 true control



One of the fastest tier 2 cars, it impresses by being responsive, easy to drive and able to hold its ground. Sure it isn’t as fast as some of the other cars on this list, but it compensates by being responsive and drifting extremely well. It is really similar to the top 1 car of this list (both even have the same engine iykyk), but has a bit of a unique style, being a bit more on the understeer side and also being harder to lose control of. A really solid car, was one of my favorites for a long part of my playthrough (in big part due to its V10 being the nicest sounding engine in the game imo).

# 2. Porsche 911 GT3

Stats: 7,4 acceleration; 379kph/235mph top speed; 6,8 control; 5/5 true control

I have no idea what Ghost Games was thinking when deeming this car’s control stat a 6,8. This is the definition of high control in this game: extremely responsive, hard to lose control of, smooth and quick drifts, this car has everything. Its speed stats are really similar from the ones of the R8 (a tier 2 car), though it takes advantage of the tier 3 turbo pursuit tech to be faster. The only thing it lacks from top 1 is the ability to quickly start/stop drifting and changing direction, and also that bit of extra speed.

# 1. Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera

Stats: 7,9 acceleration; 383kph/238mph top speed; 7,8 control; 4/5 true control

The ultimate driving pleasure in NFS Rivals racer side. It has some of the best attributes: good acceleration, good top speed, extremely responsive and quick to start drifting (a single tap in the brakes is generally enough). It falls more on the oversteer size, which for me personally is the cherry on top. It can keep up or even surpass higher tier cars on curvy sections of the map and if it had the tier 3 or 4 turbo pursuit tech, would be able to keep up with them on the straights, too.

Quick notes: this considers the completely upgraded versions of each car, and this is also based almost solely on my personal opinion. I’d love to see your opinions and/or list too! 

Driving pleasure: a 13 years late Rivals analysis