I've been been using slow, heavy cars to do the police challenges in NFS:MW (stock DB9 with upg suspension and tires and some nitrous is quite good), and i look at the minimap as often as i look at the road, but yeah, it's still tricky. Having two cars also helps to keep the heat off the race car. I play it on the PC though.
Toughest yet is the challenge series where you have to escape 24 police corvettes in under four minutes in the Lotus Elise 2005. It's an awesome car but it's so light you stop almost completely if you hit anything, and it can't push the police cars around at all.
I'd prefer a garbage truck over the lotus for this.
What made me smash my fist on the desk repeatedly was failing time trials because of impossible traffic combinations. I absolutely hate it when passing a race or challenge comes down to luck with the traffic.
Still an awesome game on the whole, winning a race in the end after all the hard work is just pure extacy.
I sometimes get real pissed playing games, or with anything that doesn't go the way i want it to. I once smashed my fist on my mouse so hard it broke, but I never shout, and that was long ago. We all grow up.
The most frustrating thing is, and that's especially appearant in highly competetive games like fast paced FPS'es, when you're angry you lose the ability to reflect on your actions and improve yourself. You fail more and more, it's a positive feedback loop.