I have a problem with the game crashing with a "run out of video memory" error. It runs fine for a while, but then starts stuttering before freezing altogether. 
System: 
3ghz dual core 
2gb ram 
xfx nvidia 8800gt 1gb 
4gb pagefile on defragged sata drive. 
I don't get it. I can play much more demanding games - is it a need for speed thing? I have most of the need for speed games, not usually a problem. (apart from Carbon and Underground 2 which seem to crash when in the menus). 
I currently am running the game at 1280x1024 using medium textures, but that only seems to extend the time before the inevitable crash. Changing resolution doesn't make any difference.