Anyone else playing this or planning to pick it up?
I was (eventually) a huge fan of 3, so I paid the full due and picked up 4. I'm on PC, so can't comment for the console experience, but on PC it's a remarkably efficient engine - I can turn every setting up to max at 1080p and it's locked at 60fps with V-sync, so if you have a 1060 or better you are fine. This is actually a slight improvement on 3 which occasionally dipped below. Despite that, the graphics have improved a touch - there are more and better shadows especially from headlights, though the skybox lighting does still move in discrete steps as before, plus numerous minor tweaks. There is a demo you can download which includes a benchmark if you want to test.
Handling-wise there's a small change - mainly that drifting is easier and more controllable. It feels a bit less 'realistic', but more satisfying that weight transfer is better under the user's control. Again, try the demo, but be aware that the main car in the demo, the Maclaren Senna, has such front downforce that it seems to handle in a completely unrealistic manner with a freakish turn in - rest assured that other cars behave a lot more as you would expect. For those new to the series, it's not at all realistic, but there's a huge variety of feel depending on the car and how it's modified, an the game does a good job of fooling you into thinking that you are able to adjust minutiae detail of how a car is driven - this is most effective at roughly fast saloon sort of speeds - as you upgrade cars away from stock they do become more arcadey, so I actually have a lot more fun racing slower classes.
In terms of gameplay, it's set in the UK, and mimicks elements from Scotland, the Peak District and Wales quite effectively (you will recognise roads and features if you've been to them, especially bits of Edinburgh). This initially makes it seem a bit familiar, but it does make for some very nice views. However, there is not the range of fun environments that could be found in 3. Instead, we have seasons - once in the online part of the game the season changes every week. This has an effect on the weather and grip of roads, but largely makes for even nicer visuals. Progression through the game has been revamped, with the effect of making more of what you prefer to do available, more of the time, which sounds great in theory, but for me it dulls the sense of opening up new things if you are given new races so frequently, rather than as a bigger reward for hitting a milestone/opening up a new area. Very very quickly the entire map is so full of race events that you don't really care that you get a new one. There are houses to buy (don't really add anything), and lots of pointless clothing tat you can dress your avatar up in - you will get annoyed when you win your umpteenth pair of wellies instead of that nice ferrari on the wheelspin rewards.
The game can be played in an offline mode (I don't know how much connectivity is required to start it however) and that's largely how I've been playing, which seems not to be as the devs intended - it has gone the way of Destiny and other online games and the intention seems to be that you have daily/weekly tasks that you are encouraged to complete online. The problem for me is two-fold: 1) other players are still idiots, and ram you off roads all the time, even if you're on the same team. Why there isn't an option for no-contact races I don't know. Theoretically if the closing speed is too high the cars will ghost and not contact, but it doesn't work reliably. Getting a group of friends together and playing in a private session looks like the way to go. But 2) playing online kills my modem. It's a crappy homehub, and can only cope with about 10 minutes of online play before it gives up. I don't have this with other games, but I have seen something similar a long time ago.
Despite this, there's so much content that playing offline is still a lot of fun, even if the world setting not being quite as enjoyable as 3.