ive only travelled in game from goodsprings down to nipton, doing some quests in and around that area and im already lvl 8.
i dont want to lower the difficulty to get less xp, i always play very hard and now hardcoe aswell. but at this rate im going to hit cap too quickly.
tbh i feel that very hard should give increased xp, but also increase the amount needed to level so that level gains are kept in parallel across difficulties.

it just feels like im rushing when im not. does anyone else feel like this?

I feel llike this a little. I'm playing normal difficulty and have quickly leveled up to 6 just from going down from Goodsprings, to Primm, to the NCRCF, and now on the way to the NCR Mojave Outpost (finding Primm a sheriff misc quest). Perhaps I am racking up the XP because the Powder Gangers are hostile to me and I've ran into, and killed, a lot of them.

First of all, you get the same XP on different difficulty levels.

Second, you do level faster than in FO3. This is because the max level is higher.

trust me man.. it slows down around 12 or so unless your completeing a ton of quests in record time

I'm level 11, 14 hours through (not actually entered the strip yet)

dont worry, your difficulty doesnt change exp earned so keep it hard (i was happy about this) the thing is they increased the lvl cap so you will level faster, they also made you level up faster between 1-10 so the game wasnt too hard, because enemys are not scaled to your level. that means if you go places you shouldnt early in the game you will die, if you tryed to go the strip at lvl 1 you die painfully(i tryed it )

Don't forget that you get 1/2 as many perks though.

I am currently a Level 11 on hardcoe. I havent entered the strip yet. I've been doing a lot of side quests and getting the feel for the hardcoe Mode itself. I already have a companion which is awesome!!!

theyve changed it from Fallout 3 then? (in FO3, higher difficulties got more exp)

Well if you chose to take the extra exp perc then yea you will level faster, but you still level pretty fast without. It takes a lot more later on and slows way down compared to the start, it kind of made me feel like i was playing an MMO. Dont worry it will slow down and you will find yourself looking for things to kill to get that level up for a Speech/barter Success for a quest lol.