- SHORT VERSION -
This is a must try experience, hands down. Whenever you're new to sim racing or veteran, trackday weekender or street drifter, hardcore sim elitist or plain dreamer. It may even be worth buying AC just for this sole purpose. Quick warning tho, it may prove highly addictive and I'd not recommend this if you are experiencing troubles getting off your rig already, it might get really worse real quick.
- Not so short version -
Well, what hits when you load it up for the first time is the vibe here. Perhaps because its wide. Or beautiful. Or because its actually replicating actual places that do have a strong vibe. Or both all of the above. Then, you go further your ride, and the freedom feeling is growing up (it personally reminded me many road trips big times, blasting through unknown landscapes thousand kms from home). Minutes later you realise it was actually hours spent already. And you cant help but want to have another go. And try that car. Or this another one you forgot about for a long time, and reconnect with it like with an old friend. The scenery might enhance the experience, the layout might makes it more interesting.
It can takes quite a time to realise how detailed the whole thing is (that is, plus considering the size of it) because you are too busy juste experiencing it at first. But when you understand how much quality this is (including that it runs surprisingly smooth even on humble systems, result of tons of work to balance visual quality and performance), it kind of makes sense to learn it was several years of development. That is absolutely mindblowing, specially regarding the fact this is made by just a few people on their free time.
The layout of the main loop is an accurate recreation, according to locals, of roads that are a blissful blend of fast sections and more technical ones. This is a dangerous ride overall, you'll have to drive quite carefully first, like IRL, if you don't want to spend your time getting back to the pits (well, parking area is a more adequate term in that instance). These 42 kms can prove though to master, but are really rewarding in the end, and putting together a complete clean loop is quite a thing. Some sections may take time and practise to remember, but in the end you will feel at home.
All in all, from reasonable spirited driving to endurance racing, road rage through traffic back to casual canyon carving, it got you covered for months (actually, maybe years as this is like going back SOMEWHERE every time you fire it up), this is quite up to your imagination, anyway, the place is perfect for countless scenarios (old school nfs vibes within beautiful graphics and realistic physics, wait, what?)
You may have heard about paid versions etc, well these are mainly awesome side roads addons (that I strongly recommend, though) meant to thank people who supported the project through its development, the 42 km main loop which is the core of it all is FREE and you already have enough with that to keep you really busy for quite a long long time.
There are many beautiful things to say about times spent in this place, but I'll let you write those lines.
I guess we'll never say "thank you" enough for this work of art.
If you just want traffic, and you both have your own rigs...
Jump on the "Cruisin USA" online servers and race each other thru traffic (I think you just need CSP v0.177... Traffic lines are server side.. and they behave awesomely)
Have fun :)