Looking Great for the most part. Maybe is just me but in some of the turns the car looks like it's floating and not on the road.

It looks good, but the cornering seems off, just like the first SHIFT. Going round corners fast doesn't seem right to me. There's too much sliding, where the car would spin out.
That was my only real complaint about SHIFT and I thought they'd have sorted it out, as i've seen a few complain about the same thing.
It does look great though, and these night time races look good.

Looks like a cool ARCADE racer

Lighting is so much better than GT5 that's for sure, it looks more natural and the spread is wider and farther.

It looks good, but why is it that at every corner the car seems to drift, I thought this was meant to challenge GT5 and Forza

I'm not impressed with much in terms of racing this gen. Graphics have been really raised racently, and it wasn't by the "two kings" (GT and Forza) in racing. Shift 2 and the upcoming Project Cars are now DOMINATING racing games graphically, GT5 and Forza 4/H do not even compare. But physics and gameplay-wise, most everything's been "off" aside from a select few. My short list would be.

#1 GT5. It's still rocking everybody in terms of gameplay and variety. It's got every kind of 4 wheeled racing almost from Karts to F1 and everything in between. GT needs to step it up graphically now though. Forza is the LEAST of their worries there.

#2 Motorstorm Pacific Rift. Just the #1 most fun and intense arcade/off-road racer ever made or ever will be made. SOOOOOO much variety compared to the bare bones (but great) first game, and a way better racing game than the 3rd game which was more like Split-Second than MotorStorm in THIS Motorstorm Fan's opinion.

#3 F1 Championship Edition. This PS3 exclusive launch game is imho still the best F1 game this gen in terms of the racing.

#4 FerrariChallenge/SuperCar Challenge. Alot of people havn't heard about these, they got VERY little attention. They sucked because not alot of cars, but it's a fact that System 3 put into these PS3 exclusives (they were on Wii too, but they weren't as advanced) the most advanced, realistic physics to ever be in a console racer. The same physics they put into their PC sim. Good graphics for the time too. Very under-rated.

#5 Shift 2. This is only here because I think graphically, it's a sneak peek at the next level in racing sim graphics. Project Cars is improving on that. But Shift 2 has HORRIBLE physics and I disliked playing it. If Project Cars can get the physics more in line than Shift 2, and have enough of a garage to have the variety in the racing while keeping the online field fairly even like GT5 does, it will truly be the next level of racing sims, and something may actually pull me away from GT5, which nothing has based on gameplay.

Also: WipeOut HD- awesome game, awesome value, it's expansion makes it an even better value, top notch quality.