head to head
Need for Speed: ProStreet asks more than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the gap is execution.

Optimization · Practiced Mastery
A sprawling open-world crime epic with RPG-style character stats across a whole state.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Cleaner racing lines plus car tuning across fixed circuit disciplines.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Need for Speed: ProStreet leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Need for Speed: ProStreet leans clearly harder on execution.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Flying school and drive-bys need decent hands
Need for Speed: ProStreet
Grip-focused handling punishes sloppy lines hard
Need for Speed: ProStreet leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Gang AI is scripted, never adaptive
Need for Speed: ProStreet
AI grids race on scripts, nothing adapts
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Territory wars and traffic add light randomness
Need for Speed: ProStreet
Damage model adds minor consequence randomness
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Stats, gym, weapon skill, and routes reward systematic play
Need for Speed: ProStreet
Tuning setups per discipline is a real solvable layer
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.