I bought the PS+ upgrade yesterday as the free version wasn't available, and I'm glad I listened to Gaf users over reviewers. Played the game for hours, and it really is a joy to drive, the sense of speed is awesome, and there's a variety of tracks. It's a bit hard to adjust to controlling the cars coming from years of playing WipEout HD, where losing the control of the vehicle never occurred even at top speeds, but they're a different kind of racers. The only minuses are the timer when you go off-road, and the penalty for collision, which doesn't seem to apply to the AI drivers when they crash into your car.
I can imagine, that the game isn't for everyone as it's pretty challenging, just like WipEout was. I only hope it, and the reviews dismissing the game for the lack of open world, won't result with similarly low sales, as it could probably be a final death sentence to the arcade racing genre.