Need for Speed franchise.
I don't hate any single one of them, each are fun in the own way.
I somehow managed to put more than 10000+ hours in a lot of them.
My first one was "Need for Speed High Stakes" on my uncle's PS1, back in 2008-09 I think. Fell in love with the thrill of the chase, later on my uncle bought a PC for me and my sister so we can play games. First thing I did was download NFS Most Wanted 2005, simply because I heard it was good, not knowing how good it was. Got addict and played it throughout my entire elementary school, every. single. day.
Then when I got 13-14 yo, I was interested in NFS Rivals, NFS Most Wanted 2012, and NFS 2015. All new gen games, with different physics and they took some time to get used to, but once I did, I fell in love.
My all time favourite NFS is "Rivals". Tons of supercars, first game on then new Frostbite engine, insane graphics for 2013, most insane and aggressive cops, story was sick, 2 different carrers, one as a racer, second one as a cop, insane pursuit tech, things you only saw in Marvel movies xD, and the game had a different vibe to it.
But it is by far the worst optimized NFS game. You literally cannot play it for more than 2-3 without it having to either frezze, crash or enter some glitch, which resulted in you losing all your progress ( speedpoints). Also pretty good DLC's ( back in the day when EA actually cared about updating their games ).
Nowadays I play NFS Heat the most, but NFS games dont hit the same anymore. They lost their "prestige" status. NFS unbound is copy-paste of NFS HEAT, with little upgrades simply to back up the fact that it is the latest NFS game.
In my opionion, Forza Horizon 5 is way better when it comes to physics, car availability, events and overall driving experience, thats why I play it the most.
NFS Unbound/Heat have way better customization, cinematics, animation, and a actual story behind it, something Forza Horizon series does not have.
A lot of people hate on Most Wanted 2012, i dont know why, possibly because it didnt meet the NFS "Most Wanted" expectations, but i love it. Its the first game to introduce new physics system, different feel of speed, cool cars and DLC's.
Thats my take on it, everyone has their own opinion.
I trully believe that NFS franchise will never be what it once was, mby its because we are getting older, but i really think they lots their status, that they once had.