Even nfs5 wasn't realistic, not arcade either, the game just felt weird.
It was arbitrarily difficult to handle, the cars felt like they had ice slabs for wheels.
There simply was no 'feel' of having four rubber wheels underneath you, felt like you were floating 1" above the road.
But that doesn't stop it from being the best nfs ever, the quality of tracks can give even the valve design team a run for its' money to this very day.
Arcade games don't need to feel anything like a real car, they just need to feel right.
gt4 has the feel, burnout3 has the feel, nfs4 had the feel x 100 (and the gazillion tracks & controllable time/weather).
As for sheer realism, nothing comes close to LFS, GTR and NR2003.