Its definitely an interesting game, like in terms of stories in racing games, its the pinnacle. But its also very RPG, yes your vehicle starts off weak, but as you grind races you get better and better. But it also has some of the worst driving ever, and its possible that you can just get hit by really lopsided races, and losing sometimes removes parts from your vehicle, causing the vehicle to do even worse, and enter a downward spiral. But i think if its a matter of, racing game vs racing game, Ridge Racer has far better handling, and also much less rage inducing.