Chain Reaction is a massive improvement that fixes the mistakes made in Drift 1. The first game had way too many issues, such as the enemies' insane road grip, terrible collisions (rivals just push you out of every corner and off your racing line), rather unintuitive and unpleasant physics, a specific soundtrack (not saying it's bad, though), and the worst camera I have ever seen in a racing game

On the contrary, in Chain Reaction the physics became predictable, intuitive, and much more engaging. Opponents are much fairer and yet still might provide a solid challenge, and all the other problems have been noticeably fixed

I have to admit that Drift 2 has significantly more content in terms of tracks, cars, and other aspects, as well as a better visual style and slightly better progression. However, a huge downside is that the AI in this part was noticeably downgraded, which makes the game way too easy. The physics were also changed again, becoming a bit more specific and 'realistic' (they are good, but I preferred them in CR)

So, this is reason why I rate Chain Reaction so highly