NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE

finally, a racing game where it actually feels terrifying to go fast

As a Need for Speed Underground, Most Wanted, Midnight Maximum Tune and Wangan kid, this is exactly what I've been waiting years for.
The VHS, 4:3, Film Grain & Blur Aesthetic definitely isn't for everyone and some will be put off by it.
If anyone wants a "complete" game give Import Tuner Challenge on Xbox 360 a try, it'll be a similar experience as to what this will turn into.
Once the game is expanded it's easily going to be one of the cornerstones of good racing games.
As it sits now outside the obvious improvements these are some issues I've picked up i'd like toggles, options or fixes for:
Default camera height, I'm not a fan of how low down both the default chase cameras are and options are always nice.
Better information/explanations, features like the Fast Travel, Time Trials, Car Grades, Fuel, Win/Loss Ratio should all at least have a one time pop up giving a brief explanation of what they do or how they work.
Menu buttons, Currently you can only go sideways once per click(Changing Resolution or Betting for example), can this be set to a constant instead of a singular click?
GPS location, I'm not against having to locate and navigate without a map but just a "You are here" marker or more obvious landmarks and signs would go a long way with players who suffer from poor direction.
Car auctions, just having a low detail model of the car pop up on the screen would be a nice QoL thing so you don't feel the need to inspect all cars which would be much more relevant once more cars are added.
Race surrenders, it would be nice if sometimes a losing car would call you to surrender if you get too far ahead and it saves players time to go chase down another race.
Difficulty increase, if the player wins too many races there should be a hidden difficulty increase to help increase the pressure and push the player harder.
Race finishes, several races finish in front of a PA but then you spawn in the middle of the road, could we get an option to head back to the PA or stay where the race ends?
Racing Audio, a toggle to change the dynamic sound to over a set speed like 150km/h or as a liner increase as you speed up would be nice as currently when you feather the throttle at top speeds the audio will constantly fade in and out with your acceleration.
Handbrake, Can we get a toggle for On/Off and On Hold?, i'm much more used to on hold rather than toggle.
True 21:9 Ultrawide Support, Easily my smallest nitpick but i don't blame anyone for not supporting it.

This demo made me feel like the first time I played the original Hitman- like I was doing something really wrong, dirty, and immoral, and I really liked it. The game feels different than anything I've played in decades. It invoked sensations of playing Street Racing Syndicate as a teenager, or downloading unsanctioned racing footage complete with M-Flo remixes of Utada Hikaru. It gives me vibes of Manhunt, but for street racers. There's an incredible psychological-horror-turned-adrenaline-junkie soul being baked into this game and I cannot wait for it to release.

Most fun I've had on a racing game in forever.
Vibes: 10/10
Car selection: 1/10 (1 car in the game so far)
Upgrades: 6/10, I like the system overall but I wish there were tuning options
Potential: 9/10
Racing / Driving: 7/10, Super fun mechanics and they feel pretty good, just really REALLY wish the navigation system was better. Also can we stop racing while going the wrong way through traffic?
Map: 5/10, It's boring so far, only highways to drive on lol. A more free roam version of this game would be super fun.

Good proof of concept, I hope they expand on it in the full release and polish out existing issues (confusing GPS being one of them)

I haven't played a proper street racing game since NFS Underground 2, and I gotta say this fills a void in me that I didn't know was there. This is worth playing based on the soundtrack alone (emotion engine anyone?). A really good time, loved every second.

Night-Runners Prologue has an insane sense of speed, it FEELS fast. Hitting 300 km/h has you on the edge of your seat. The camera tilting as you round a bend has you dragged into the game world. Brakes are more realistic in comparison to other arcade racers, it takes a lot more to come to a stop from top speed, leaving you hoping you can make that turn without meeting god. The entire world blurs, your GPS speedometer becoming almost unreadable after 250 km/h is THRILLING, as you are forced to focus on the road and weave through traffic. The render/spawn distance for vehicles is a little shorter than you can see, which has you making split second decisions JUST barely avoiding a collision.

Night-Runners excels in its aesthetic. Film grain, motion blur, censored faces and license plates, black market auctions, under-glow, body kits, and long stretches of Japan's highways for you to barrel down at what feels like the speed of light as the music gets louder and louder with the speedometer needle runs out of numbers. The game exudes personality in every single asset, audio file, and texture.

The soundtrack is rich with personality, taking centre stage the faster and faster you go. As the engine's screams become a memory, it's the music which drives you to the finish line. The soundtrack makes you want to never let off the throttle, which you would easily understand after playing the game for five minutes.

Who needs the passenger seats or fancy body kits when the question is "money?" and the answer is "speed." Rip off body panels and strip your interior for quick and cost free weight reduction, go full "Pimp My Ride" and have the largest sound system could ever want, fork over the cash for prototype racing parts and you'll have enough down-force and style to crush the competition. Car customization has never shone as brightly in a video game before, until now. The livery import function is what allows the community behind this game to exude such strong individuality. Do you want window stickers or decals on literally any part of your car? Do you want a sakura tree along your doors? Do you want to slap a transparent png of Shrek's arse on your hood? The answer is "Yes" to literally any question you have about what you can do, as long as you have access to free image and artwork creating/editing software (Krita and Gimp as examples), then you can make your dream livery a reality (In the game of course).

If you're a fan of; Midnight Club, The Fast & Furious, Need For Speed, Wangan Midnight, Initial D, Redline, or hell even Gunsmith Cats, then this is the video game for you. Take the golden age of racing films and games and merge them with refined and precise modern controls, that's Night-Runners. If you have gotten this far and STILL haven't started downloading or played the game yet, it's a free demo you can put as much time into as you want. Night-Runners is the game the racing game community has been wanting for YEARS, just take a chance on it and try it out.

Now, some bugs and glitches I have encountered during my playtime:

- In some areas, resetting your car (whether by choice or by crashing) can place you on the other side of the road or facing the wrong direction, resulting in you being unable to finish the race or punishing you more than is intended (restarting a race costs around 1/8th of the wager i believe, and if your opponent has already crossed the finish line it's around 7/8ths of the wager)

- Removing a bumper in the safehouse can result in deleting itself, and does not show up in your parts inventory (I do not know if this can happen with other body parts as of yet)

- I will very rarely and randomly get a 75,000 yen cost added to my shopping cart upon entering the store and leaving doesn't remove it

- Hovering over a part which effects stats, and backing out of the sub-menu/page without equipping it, will result in that menu believing it is equipped and displaying incorrect stat information (Easy fix, just go back and hover over the items you DO have equipped, THEN back out of that sub-menu and it'll display correctly)

- Using the clutch to shift gears at high speeds while turning can result in you losing traction and sliding, possibly losing control if you do not expect it. Solution/work-around is to not use the clutch while turning (You don't actually need to use it to shift gears at all, but it sure feels good to). I believe the reason this happens is because the clutch is likely meant to be used as a way to more consistently initiate a drift without use of the handbrake.

- Certain ai racers will have a sort of "spasm" at very high speeds, where they will very suddenly, and VERY quickly swing left and right. It's simultaneously terrifying and hilarious, as you will find yourself suddenly in a wall and having your car reset. I suspect it is caused by the racer reaching speeds faster than its ai can keep up with, so it perhaps doesn't A) know what to do, or B) know where it is. A few things you can keep in mind to deal with it A) avoiding pushing the ai from behind as it can push them past speeds it can handle, B) overtake on turns, as the ai racers seem to be unable to downshift, thus making overtaking during technical segments much easier, C) gun it and pray because the amount of force you'll get hit by is honestly astounding.

- Ai racers don't downshift, as mentioned before. This causes the highest difficulty to be relatively easy, even if you make what should be run-ending mistakes. You will easily catch up on turns, technical segments, or especially if the ai crashed or got slowed down for any reason. They will stay in whatever the highest gear they've reached up until that point.

- Purchasing anything from the "Extras" customization tab (Neons for example), while already having one equipped in that slot will cause the old one to be equipable without buying a replacement. Not sure if this is a bug/oversight, or intended, because there is no inventory for anything in the "Extras" tab. You have to buy a new light kit every time you want to change it, there is no using ones you have already bought before.

Please do keep in mind this is a DEMO and the full release likely will have all problems found here to be fully patched out. It is a one-man dev team so cut Jem some slack.

Thank you for reading all this, makes me feel like I'm not wasting over an hour and half of my time writing here.
Overall rating for Night-Runners Prologue as a demo - 9/10