I'm getting a lot of similar comments about speedbreaker, fast travel, etc so I figured I would make a pinned reply!

I did use speedbreaker plenty during pursuits/roadblocks, it was helpful! Just not during races, the footage you see in the video is not how I used it at all, that was filmed just for the video to show off the feature while I was talking about it, it's intentionally awkward driving to try and use the feature as much as possible in one clip.  Speedbreaker feels more awkward when you play on manual instead of auto, but ultimately it just came down to not needing it in the first place.  I didn't find the races overly difficult so I never felt "pushed" to use speedbreaker - so it didn't add much to my game experience personally.

Fast Travel.
I want to repeat a sentence I said in the video, "fast travel *as it's implemented in Most Wanted* was a mistake."
U2 had (almost) no fast travel which is also bad in its own way, and I think they just overcorrected in MW. There's a middleground between no FT, and instant FT to everything. You obviously don't need to use it but the problem is more so that you're never encouraged to just drive around and explore/experience the world, in fact you're encouraged not to because you could get into a pursuit you don't want to be in.  This is in stark contrast to U2 which had hidden races, outrun racing, money finds, "hidden" shops, photoshoots, and more in the open world, which helped break up the pace and added a stronger immersion to the game.  The open world experience just isn't there as much in MW which is unfortunate because it's a cool world! I just wish the game encouraged players to use it more!

Driving really fast not hitting anything  with avenged sevenfold on the back playing was pure heaven on this game

I miss how big getting a new car was in these older titles.

NFS:MW also had 13000 voice lines for indicating every little car paint scheme and vehicle you used so it always seemed like they knew what they were doing.

The intro to that first race lives rent free in my head. "Let's see how you do in the daylight" is such a simple and good way to tie back in to underground

Getting the notification of destroying cross during a pursuit was the greatest feeling I could've had as a teen playing this game.

I’m 18 years old. my dad still owns a copy of this game in black edition on disc for PC. we used to play it when he built me my first PC, around the age of 4/5. this game is honestly the reason i am a mechanic 14 years later, and a big help in building a solid friendship with my father. love this game to death

My favorite part about MW2005's pursuit system is the radio chatter. It goes through so many ranges of emotion, from laid back disinterested Heat 1 "donut eaters," to proactive and engaged "Let's try something different" out of Heat 3 and up units, to the dead-short adrenaline rush of "BLOCK HIM, NOW, NOW" and "BOX HIM IN, BOX HIM IN" as the trap snaps shut, to the utter rage and downright hostile demeanor of Cross and his "Personal Guard" at Heat 5 or 6, it really conveyed more than just what the cops are doing right now. It gave you a sense of being hunted, by a truly commited police force that works with the professionalism and confidence only decades of experience can give, making it all the more satisfying when you finally outwit them.
And Paul Linford's soundtrack just took it to the next level, with its recognizable "Breaking News" tune and samples, dynamic shifts in tone corresponding to your state in the pursuit, and its perfect blend with the sirens and loudspeaker orders coming from the PC's themselves.

MW's pursuits are a master-class in designing a Unique Selling Point. I hardly need the actual races to be sold on it.

I had just survived hurricane Katrina when I played this about a month and half later when we finally had power and water and a shiny new FEMA camper. Me and Mama would play this constantly and it really helped take out minds off the tragedy. It was a very traumatic time and everyone was becoming an alcoholic just to deal with it. But we're gamers and gearheads and that helps. Good game

The dopamine rush when that pink slip icon showed up. I'll never forget it.

The mid 2000s have a special place in my heart. It´s a shame it went by so fast. Golden age of the internet and gaming.

Not a lot of people talk about the dynamic pursuit music that reacts and changes depending on what's immediately happening in the pursuit. If you take a look into the game files, the pursuit music is segmented into hundreds of 1 second sections per song track. Just shows how much work goes into the game monitoring and understanding the situation and being able to change the music tension on the fly. This system was continued in Carbon and applied to the city and canyon racing soundtrack, albeit to a lesser extent. Still impressive

A classic most wanted experience is racing Earl and seeing him press a button to summon Vin Diesel to turn his evo into a machine of pure physics destruction.

Something I’m impressed with to this day is the radio chatter from the cops.
The chatter in 2015 and heat feels completely generic and uninteresting, 2012 was okay but still didn’t compare to 2005.

I remember being in a race in most wanted, the cops came in. Through some series of events, one of the racers crashed the the police actually radioed for emergency response to get medical attention.  
Well either that or I’m remembering completely wrong, but it’s still a very impressive and immersive part of the game.

I entirely disagree with your criticism of fast travel OPTION, because it's not pushing you in any way to use it - you can omit this possibility and only use the open-world traveling between the locations. I did so, and just a few times, when there were like 2 or 3 races left I had to win before challenging a boss, and their locations were miles away, I jumped into those events and it was so much better than driving through the whole world like for 88th time in a week of gameplay... they gave us CHOICE and it was a good decision, you can mix it up, use the open-world traveling for 85% of the gameplay, but sometimes, may just skip some boring driving and enter a race when you're still in the heat after the previous race.

One thing I don't think you mentioned (unless I missed it) is that the music in the cop chases are very well orchestrated and it really adds a strong element of suspense. The music while the police are chasing you really does a great job at making you understand a lot is at stake here.

The police chatter during pursuits is not only a clever, subtle mechanic for predicting the cops’ movements, but the dialogue used to be a lot more brutal before the final game came out.

There’s a YouTube video that showcases unused police dialogue, which includes a cop probably straight up DYING from the player ramming into them. The police requesting EMS due to you causing MULTIPLE casualties, and apparently the helicopters for heat 5 pursuits were going to be able to shoot the player?? Instead of slamming themselves into your car? (Helicopter pilots would request to return for a reload if their weapons were running low on ammo)

It’s amazing how much they wanted to immerse the player into being this diabolical street racer, but unfortunately adding these few lines of police radio chatter would probably raise that age rating beyond what they were aiming for.

I think the Fast travel is very good.
If you just want to race you can do that and if you want to drive to the races manually you can also do that, just check the map.

For the handling issue, all the cars do handle differently but there is a tuning slider in the options menu. It lets you tune the downforce and gearing settings of the car your using. It saves the settings for each individual car as well

23:00 I swear to god I can hear this cutscene