According to a recent interview with EA, Matt Webster of Criterion Games explained that the play area of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is 4x bigger than Paradise City, Criterion's last racing game. The reason for the size increase is that the cars in the new NFS title must be able to reach 260mph which means laying down a lot more road for your speeding pleasure.
There's roughly 10 more miles of tarmac and 30-40% more shortcuts and off-road sections to enjoy as well[...]
Continue reading: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit to be 4x Size of Burnout Paradise...