I agree with a lot of your points.
First, I love racing games. Need for Speed is one of the coolest and has a ton of history. I remember playing NFS 2 back in college with my roommates.
Love the customizing, sometimes I spend an hour just messing with all the different styles and colors.
Although other racing games are more realistic, like GT, this does a good job.
Thanks for sharing!
These are my personal opinion. and welcome. I used to pass more time in customizing cars than racing ha ha ha.