They don't make them like this anymore. They made them better.
However, modern fans argue that the original has aged better than its sequel. Underground 2 had huge open-world bloat and annoying SUV races. Underground 1 is pure, arcade perfection. No filler. No microtransactions. No live-service battle passes. Just you, your nitrous, and the night.
Furthermore, there was no "rewind" button. Crash in a drag race at the 30-second mark? Restart. Miss a checkpoint in a Sprint? Race over. This brutal difficulty, combined with the need to micro-manage your dyno settings (gear ratios, downforce, suspension), meant that beating the final boss, Eddie, felt like a genuine achievement.
While small by modern standards (roughly 20 cars), the roster was perfectly curated. There were no useless vehicles. The holy trinity of Underground 1 remains iconic: