Having bought Codemasters racing games (a bad thing in hindsight) since '99, my conclusions are:-
Codies are infamous for pre-renders, so any shots are taken with a spade of salt!
The AI cars are like tanks, they are immoveable objects on track.
The AI tend to either ram humans in front or over-brake.
The default (arcade) physics give a very false impression that all but hairpin bends can be taken at full throttle.
The "pro-sim" physics make all cars feel like you are driving on ice and many cars in the game do not have the "pro-sim" mode modelled well at all.
Codies refuse to work on a network code that allows for dedicated servers.
Codies have little intrest in applying cheat prevention methods eg. the 4000 slots upgrade hack was well documented, but despite their claim, Codies did not fix it.
Support typically finishes after a second patch, leaving bugs/flaws while the dev team gets ready to add the next sequel onto the conveyor belt.
Yes, you got it, I'm not likely to support a release by Codies for some time
