I hadn't heard anything about the voice actors or script changing, has that been confirmed?
I imagine most parts of the game will have some additional polish from where they are now, but I'd imagine changing the fundamental feel of vehicle handling is probably beyond polish.
There have been several descriptions of the driving that include little details like projecting the UI onto the surface of the windshield that, for me, imply a lot of thought went into how they wanted to implement driving. For me that is a better sign of the driving quality than some journalist's opinion that it felt "stiff" or that freeways felt like they discouraged open exploration with their defined track and on/off ramps (you know like freeways).
There isn't a driving implementation that everyone, or even all game journalists, are going to like. Additionally with the hype level of the game, articles that are critical or pessimistic are likely to drive more clicks than ones that praise or are optimistic. Furthermore articles that are pessimistic are safer in the long run, most likely any backlash from fans will result in additional clicks and distribution while having little to no long term affect because when it comes out if most people like it they see the critical articles as just having high expectations, while liking something that the fans don't like results in a loss of credibility as fans assume you were paid off, have bad taste, etc.
Ultimately, I think there are more reasons to give the benefit of the doubt or try to come up with reasons to not worry about features we haven't experienced first hand than there are reasons to allow second/third hand criticisms and anxieties to influence our expectations.