I have had my first proper session on Midnight Club: Los Angeles, not enough to know everything about the game, but enough to share my first impressions.
There are a few cool touches which make navigating the city and focusing on the race at hand really easy.
1) The Mini Map rotates.
2) The Mini Map is in the bottom left hand corner.
3) The Check Points have visual representations with arrows in them, so you can see what way to go without looking at the mini map.