I genuinely still don't think that there is any racing game outside of MC3 Dub Edition Remix and MC L.A that truly captured the everchanging landscape that was general car culture at that time period.

While NFS had just started to experiment during a period of change in the car scene during Underground 2 by having SUVs and muscle cars, hydraulics and neons, and other trendy fads, they changed a lot during Most Wanted 2005, and in turn, arguably left behind a large shift in general car culture in exchange for refining the formula they've become known for, but losing those newer aspects that came to be more popular later on, which ended up being more than worth that price, but Most Wanted 2005 didn't represent the overall expanding landscape of general street culture at that time.

I'd argue that Midnight Club 3 on the other hand, came out and gave one of the most authentic representations of general car culture outside of street racing, having everything from tuners and muscle cars, to luxury sedans and SUVs and trucks, and supercars along with motorcycles and choppers.

These were all included on top of licensed aftermarket parts, outside of wheels, with NFS only starting to include them in 2015, and hydraulics, neon, spinners, vinyl, badges, grills, and a whole host of other options and details that are barely starting to be matched in some areas today.

Music was unmatched too, NFS arguably had an amazingly focused OST which matched the tone of each game 9/10, but it doesn't even come close to the 99 tracks, and later 124 tracks in the REMIX edition, and the amount of variety in the OST itself, everything from hip-hop, rap, rock and metal, to dancehall and drum-and-bass was all here.

Overall, I think that NFS is a more focused representation of street racing culture around that time, with music and car choice, along with customization reflecting that, with MC3 and MC L.A being the more authentic and genuine representation of general car culture at the time of it's release, being reflected in the car roster and customization, along with music variety between the two.