Recent reviews by Armitage

Almost gave up early but glad I didn't.

First starting out, it felt like the controls were wooden and stiff, the cars were unresponsive, and the camera angles were always messing me up. I couldn't control the cars, kept crashing into things, and generally wasn't having any fun.

Having stuck with it a bit longer, I came to realize that the game is closer to a sim than an arcade racer and the physics model is heavily focused on vehicle weight transfer. After that, the rest fell into place.

Hints:
- Control problems? You're probably using too much throttle and not slowing down enough for turns. The physics engine punishes you for constantly flooring it and rewards you for easing into the throttle and using part throttle in a lot of situations.
- The brakes are exceptionally strong on all cars on all surfaces. Use them!
- You don't need to Fujiwara Takumi every single turn.
- Understeering in a slow corner? Lift off the throttle entirely to get the weight back over the front tires.
- The game punishes you for crashing. Even the lightest collision almost always results in a 180 spin. Avoiding offs in the first place is the best strategy.
- Loss of control and pendulum-ing all over the place? The camera lags behind the car's movements, and amplifies the situation. Lifting off the gas prevents the pendulum effect.
- There are no pace notes and sometimes you can't see the hairpin or decreasing radius turn coming up ahead. Discretion is the better part of valor.
- Hate the rainy stages? They're the perfect place to practice your throttle control and tons of fun once you get it down.

Things I like:
- Charming aesthetic
- Nice variation in levels and cars
- Music selection
- Once you get a hang of the physics model and start putting it all together, it becomes super rewarding to chain together an entire stage of perfect corners. Stick with it!

Nitpicks:
- Camera lag / sometimes you can't see what's coming up ahead
- Occasional performance problems / FPS drops
- Cuts are allowed but sometimes the game questionably resets your car when you're only a few feet off the road

This is video game storytelling at it's very best. The world is beautifully wrought, the environments are chillingly eerie, and the puzzles are creative. Perfect.