First of all, I want to say the game is everything I expected and much more ever since I saw the announcement. I've been playing it for a few hours now and everything just feels great. However, I have two things that don't sit quite right with me.

The first is that sometimes the game resets me way too early; when I am not that far away from the track and can easily get back. Increasing the tolerance for leaving the track would be great.

Also I feel like the severe damage model isn't nearly as punishing enough. I haven't tried the other damage models, ever since the game came out, I have only been playing on severe.
Even on that level, I never quite broke my car, despite it taking so much abuse. The worst I managed was getting a crooked suspension, so the car would always steer to the left, but not much more. Not enough to make the repairing an actual choice, because I always had enough points. I'd wish that the severe model would actually punish crashing, instead of it just being a minor setback.

Thanks for reading

I agree on both points.

The reset distance in the full game seem a little more lenient than the demo, but it's still too harsh.

The damage model definitely needs to be looked at. I play on severe as well and even my most horrible run ever didn't fully break the car, or even make it much harder to drive.

Thanks for the feedback all - I've passed it on to the team!

Here's my input on the damage model, 15 hours into the game - the damage levels are just fine the way they are now.

The game is not a simulation. As such, the 'Normal' damage level is perfectly adequate, you get 1 point of gearbox / suspension damage for wear & tear at the end of the stage if you drove perfectly. Punctures and broken radiators still happen if you violently hit the various obstacles. The 'Heavy' and 'Severe' are also adequately up-scaled versions of the 'Normal' level, with multiple points of damage deducted at the end of the stage for even the slightest touching of the scenery (and even steering damage incurred for repeatedly hitting the side-road cones).

To summarize, I don't think any major overhaul of the damage models are needed for the game.

That doesn't align with my experiences at all. Oftentimes when I completed a stage on severe without hitting anything, I would not have any damage at all, except some dirt to clean off.

Agreed, but these are minor issues, what bothers me (a little) more is the "tire model", I mean driving in rain on tarmac sometimes feels more slippery than on ice :D
On the other side I feel there's not enough grip on dry tarmac. Gravel feels all right though (it's the perfect middle ground in some sense).
Overall a very nice game but it maybe needs some adjustments

Not true at all. On normal I have to crash out constantly to maybe get 1 or 2 points of damage. I can have a few crashes each stage and still only need a wash point at the repair stage, sometimes not even that.

I agree that I don't think anything really needs changed though; it clearly isn't a simulation game.

I know it doesn't, hence why I wanted to share my experience with the developers. That's a strange way to start your retort, by insinuating that I have lied in my assessment for some reason. You're replying 9 days later and ~5 patches after my post, which means things have changed in the meantime. Maybe use your head before posting and be more courteous next time.

Who says i'm patched up? I'm on the day 1 version, likely the version you were talking about at the time, so yes, I call BS. Courtesy? I don't know you, never will. Probably shouldn't use the internet if your feelings are so easily bruised.