The gameplay of need for speed carbon is very similar to that of most wanted (the previous game in the series) and the cars all handle in a similar fashion as before: Once you have upgraded your car it will be easier to navigate tracks and outmaneuver the cops.
At the start of this game the story picks up as it left off in most wanted. You have left Rockport city and are heading for a new city which you'll predictably have to conquer through various races and boss battles.You are thrown into the story and only given scraps of information and you have to find out more as you progress through the game. However, the games plot didn't compel me to find out more. From the very first moments of the game, i noticed how dark it was and difficult to navigate. And throughout the game it stays dark - You'll have to race, and evade in the dark which can prove irritating when you persistently crash into things you cannot see. The addition of some of the old race types such as drift is welcome, however, the newer creation of canyon duels isn't so enjoyable. You are required to follow a boss down a virtually pitch black twisty road with a chance of falling off the edge and having to start the race all over again. Once you have made it to the bottom following an opponent , you have to lead the way as fast as possible. In my experience, i have succeeded in the first part of the race and then completely messed up the second meaning i have to start all over. This Really gets on my nerves and ruins the game somewhat for me. - This race should never have been created or even just been created in a non pitch black environment.
The handling of the cars in need for speed carbon is variable- At the start of your new career, you must choose a class: Muscle, Tuner or Exotic. I found the muscle car to be a complete waste of time; they may go fast but they really don't steer. I found the tuner category the easiest of the 3 to use as it strikes a balance between handling and speed.
The addition of a crew is a bit strange. You are allowed to take a friend into a race to either provide you a slipstream (which is very hard to do) , Ram other people off the roads (which is the most useful in my experience) or scout the streets during the race for shortcuts. You can only take one of these per race and they have special abilities that earn you extra money or unlock parts in your garage.
The police chases in carbon are few and far between: They seldom happen and when they do they are just aren't as fun as most wanted. Once again, you can drive through various structures to stop the police and hiding places are still included to lose the police with haste.
I would not advise using the keyboard to play this game. I got frustrated enough using a gamepad.

The graphics are the most redeeming feature of need for speed carbon but they come at a price: You must have a pretty good pc to actually access the higher end of the visuals and still be able to run the game properly. I had to fiddle with many of the graphical options before i could actually play this game properly, but i managed to maintain plenty of detail and still keep the performance. The most enjoyable graphical aspect of this game for me was the cutscene before a race your car is shown amongst the others revving up with some whizzy effects and blurring.
But due to the nature of the environment, most of the graphics aren't even seen properly, instead, you just see darkness with the occasional neon sign, lamppost or lit up building.