I'm still only about 40 hours with the game, so I have not by a longshot experienced it very deeply. But enough to see what it is like to get up to say level 8 and find 15 or 20 map locations.

Based on this, here is what I'm led to conclude:

The player is 'strongly' discouraged from going in certain directions in the game world, most notably north and west of Goodsprings owing to the abundance of powerful critters, but also as a result of how the landscape is modeled. There are quite a few ridges that you can get right to the crest of, but cannot actually cross onto the top of, the intent here seemingly is to funnel the player to access certain areas through their proper 'entry points' and not from multiple different directions.

I'm loving the game and it is a masterpiece. But this dynamic just feels less 'open' to me than FO3 did, and thus more frustrating and less satisfying.

The game seems to want the player to follow these steps and the combination of boundaries/obstacles in the landscape and the structuring of quests really does a pretty good job of accomplishing it as far as I can tell:

1. Visit Primm &/or NCRCF
2. Do not go straight North
3. Visit Nipton &/or Mojave Outpost
4. Visit Novac

Am I wrong here? Missing something? Should I play on with particular goals/trajectories more in mind?

Nope, completely right. Go off-the-rails (at least until you pass Novac) and you fight things that make a level 50 character want to run from. Certain mountains (especially near Goodsprings) are heavily walled with invisible walls after a certain height, so you can't pass that way.

Yes, that is one of several things that I don't like about New Vegas. The other being that it doesn't really feel like a post-apocalyptic game... just one that happened to have an apocalyptic event in the past.

Just keep in mind that the Railroading ends after Novac- by that time the game can't force you to go anywhere. The only other Railroading that occurs is with the Main Quest- you can't string along the major factions and play to each, only choosing one at the end. If you do more than two quests for any one while the others are active, you're permanently shut out of their questlines.

To be fair, that's the whole point.

Its possible to go north when on very early levels in the game.. u just have to think what abilities will aid me in this.. I've done this on level 2 at very hard level.

The player is certainly discouraged from straying from this path, but I personally see it as a tutorial. The path you outlined introduces you to all of the major factions, lots of interesting people who will provide lots of information, three companions, many different quests and it allows you to travel along half of the map.

Just like any good tutorial, you can skip it if you know how.

The thing that really irritates me though is people saying that they "railroaded" in New Vegas, truth be told I felt far more railroaded in Fallout 3 with its incredibly linear story line. I just don't understand how you can feel railroaded in a game as choice filled and open ended as New Vegas.