Lets scrutinize that statement because I am an asshole:
Car and Driver Presents: The Need For Speed: Fun. Mixed simulation aspects with arcade elements for a nice toss-up.
Need For Speed II: Buggy and glitchy. Took vibe of realism out by having only concept cars. Removed police chases that were present in first game.
Need For Speed II SE: See Need For Speed, but remove buggy and glitchy.
Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit: Pretty. Returned air of believability. Added car chases as a "new feature." Removed point-to-point races.
Need For Speed IV: High Stakes/Road Challenge: Introduced car damage. Very addictive single player mode. Billed being the cop as a new feature when it was possible in the PC version of NFS: III.
Need For Speed V: Porsche 2000/Porsche Unleashed: Took out police chases again. Even better single player mode. Pedestrian vehicles take damage. Revamped physics engine.
Motor City Online: Killed before its prime. Quite fun, despite being an MMO.
Need For Speed: V-Rally: A rebranded European rally game. As an arcade rally game it is decent. No better.
Need For Speed: V-Rally 2: Another rebranded European rally game. Far better than the first, but still not a real NFS game.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit II: Billed police chases as a new feature. Billed being the cop as a new feature. Stupidly fun, and highly polished. Far more arcadey than any other entry in the series. Only PS2 version is any good.
Need For Speed: Underground: Removed police chases again. Added admittedly deep car customization. Cars not tunable. Many glitches in vinyl system. Piss-poor, yet not forced in execution, story (more or less ignored throughout game). Drift physics very nicely done. Stupid unlocking system.
Need For Speed: Underground 2: Very comprehensive tuning engine, even more so than GT4. Useless city overworld. Fun Outrun mode, very similar to Tokyo Extreme Racer. Piss-poor, and very forced story. Downhill drifting added, as well as tandem drifting. Tracks not as good or memorable as first Underground
Need For Speed: Most Wanted: Police chases billed as new feature. Piss-poor attempt at story, more forced than ever before. Poor attempt at adding real supercars to game. Day time environments added, graphics given slight overhaul. Drag racing removed.
Need For Speed: Carbon: Physics engine destroyed in drifting. XBox 360 version is only version worth a damn. Story still sucks. Soundtrack underused. Police chases glued on.
So, we have essentially a series that went down the shitter after Hot Pursuit II and has been crawling its way back up to Underground 2, then going down the shitter again.
Michael: Jodie, how's my schedule look for today? Jodie: You've got a conference and dinner party at the Japanese Embassy regarding wildlife protection. Michael: Oh, yeah...sorry, but I'll have to cancel that. I'm heading out to save America!