Test Drive Unlimited is not an arcade racer; there aren't any Burnout- or Ridge Racer-like hijinks to be found. On the other hand, it's definitely not a hardcore racing sim either. I am by no means any kind of racing game connoisseur, but I would place the handling more along the lines of something like Need for Speed. It demands you actually brake and exercise a degree of judgment when driving, but it comes off as quite accessible. Your car's performance is in no way affected by damage; any damage is cosmetic only. Eden producer Ahmed Boukhelifa explained that the team tested out the idea of performance-affecting damage earlier in development, but decided against it. Since high end vehicles may be the product of a great deal of time spent, they wanted to avoid players running into a situation where they have finally acquired the Lamborghini of their dreams but then have to spend all their time going to the repair shop just to drive the car as it was intended. Then there's the rather sobering thought of possible "griefers" who might take advantage of their ability to negatively affect others' gameplay experience.