I'd personally recommend the second option, especially since there are no Drift races in "Most Wanted". You can either decide that it will slide easily or drive in a more stable manner. Handling bar allows you to manipulate cars abilities during corners. In that case you might consider decreasing the value. The only exception is when a track has a lot of straight lines. You should be doing it at the start of each race. If you decide to increase this value you will be able to go through sharper turns more easily. Steering bar will help you to modify how should the car respond to your actions. Their availability depends on the number of performance upgrades of your car, so don't worry if you won't have an opportunity to do something at the start of the Career mode. You will be presented with a list of possible modifications (up to seven). In order to do that you will have to pause the race and choose the correct option from the game menu. I can assure you that winning ALL of the challenges without messing in these options is POSSIBLE, however it won't hurt to take a closer look at them.
These options are available, however you won't even have to use them in order to secure victory. You might want to think that this game doesn't allow you to make any modifications to your vehicle. It's best to keep a straight line, rather than trying to keep to the main road. Remember that moving onto the surrounding grass WON'T slow you down in any way. You should be able to cut through most of the corners. The other important factor has already been mentioned in the previous Chapter of this game guide. You should avoid any contact with the surrounding barriers, because they might slow you down significantly. Use the brakes ONLY if the corner you're trying to take is VERY tight and narrow. You don't need to worry about getting involved in any crashes or spins. Most of the vehicles act as if they were glued somehow to the track. It's mostly because of the arcade car handling. As for the corners, you should be able to pass through most of them only by getting your foot off the gas pedal. The same goes with some of the junctions. Not all of the shortcuts have been marked on the map.
You should remember about one thing, though. The map itself becomes very useful in the early stages of the career, while most of the tracks may surprise you in a few spots. It's visible on your screen all the time. Furthermore, you shouldn't forget about the possibility of using a map of the area. Like I've said before, you will have to memorize the tracks and their shortcuts in order to win most of the challenges. The key is to have all of the performance upgrades installed, while the rest isn't that important. If you're lucky, you might even be able to win some of the toughest challenges in one of the older cars. You will probably notice it near the end of the Career mode, where you will have an opportunity to buy all necessary parts. The same goes with their acceleration or the maximum speed. I should also say that most of the presented cars have very similar handling. Otherwise you won't be able to win most of the challenges. Furthermore, you will have to use shortcuts along the way. "Most Wanted", on the other hand, will require you to know the tracks. In these products you had to concentrate most of your attention on a proper car handling. You might find some of its features rather unusual, especially if you were playing more complicated games in the past, similar to "Juiced" or "S.C.A.R.". Input LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN on the Press Start screen."Need for Speed: Most Wanted" is a type of game that has absolutely NOTHING in common with a realistic car simulation. Input UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT on the Press Start screen. The highest I've gotten off one pursuit is almost 6 million bounty. You can sit there as long as you like but check behind you periodically just to make sure one of them hasn't gotten smart enough to come up the ramp. This destroys their vehicles which in turn raises you bounty and length of your pursuit. At higher levels though the police will hover below you ramming into each other and everything else. It's better if your heat is 2 or up as the lower level cops will sometimes lose sight of you and you'll cool off.
Then sit there and watch the cops go crazy. on top of the buses at the bus station) go as closes to the end of the buses away from the up ramp as possible without falling off and without a cop following you up the ramp. First get in a pursuit and then find a ledge (ex. You can raise your bounty as much as you want and complete that part of your milestones.