New additions are a 24-hour day-to-night cycle, weather effects and traffic with licensed vehicles, adding a realistic aspect to the game.

The new dynamic weather system has been reported to alter the gameplay experience, making the vehicle more prone to sliding on slick surfaces.

If any damage is inflicted upon a vehicle after races, the player does not necessarily need to drive back to a garage for a full repair, but, instead, can choose the "Quick Fix" option through which old, junkyard-esque parts will be added to the car.

Developers placed great emphasis on the elimination of load screens, stating that the player could literally jump from career mode to an online race in under ten seconds.

Infractions causing the game to go directly to pursuit mode include speeding and excessively damaging a police car.

[clarification needed][7] The game includes a Race Editor features that allows the player to make tracks for online play.

A fringe benefit of the mode is that it also allows free-roaming of the game map (including picking up collectables and earning various achievements) without traffic, police, damage or other gameplay interference.

In the intro of the game, he is on the phone with the L.A. City Champ, Booke (Martin Luther McCoy), telling him to meet at the fast-food restaurant Carney's Express Limited.

At a point in the game, Karol (Saul Stein) calls telling the player about Booke being back as City Champ.

The characters are Oswaldo (Motorcycle), Julian (Tuner), Lester (Luxury), Pete (Exotic), and Marcel (Muscle).

[10] According to Rockstar San Diego producer Jay Panek, the development team choose Los Angeles as the location for the game due to the city's strong ties with the street racing culture.

Players were also able to purchase the pack which included new character competitions, races, music and cars available in a single complete package.

On January 14, 2009, the content pack was accidentally released on the Xbox Live Marketplace during its testing and approval phase by Microsoft.

It was then removed and anyone who was able to obtain it was asked to delete it because it may cause unforeseen problems with achievements and save data, according to an Xbox Live Marketplace staff member.

Rockstar then put a new post up on the Midnight Club: Los Angeles website on March 30 saying that the event was to be on April 4.

Four days later, both the South Central Expansion and Premium Pack were released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for download.

[19] The game features only a portion of Los Angeles, using a slightly modified version of the L.A. map from Midnight Club II.

Making up for this, the game features another playable city, Tokyo, which uses the same map from Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix.

The Complete Edition features all of the map, vehicles, and music from the original Midnight Club: Los Angeles plus all of the previously available downloadable content on the disc to make up for lost progress, thus saving the player from starting all over again, and fixed the bugs & unbalanced difficulty from the original version Midnight Club: Los Angeles was met with positive reception upon release.

[42][45] Most reviews praised the game's detailed depiction of Los Angeles, great amount of depth and multiplayer options, consistent frame-rate, stylish presentation, and varied soundtrack.

The areas that were criticized included the clichéd characters, slow texture loading when players start up the game and unbalanced difficulty.