A challenging racer.
I'm not a huge Ridge Racer fan so I can't say if it's anything like previous Ridge Racer games.
What I can say is, it's not Flatout. It's not Burnout. It's a decent racing game that has some destructive elements and that's about it. There's nothing revolutionary or unique here.
A lot of people go on about the drifting aspect - you have to be able to drift well to do well in the game and it's not easy. Personally, I like the challenge.
It walks that fine line between being frustrating and satisfying. There's nothing like heading towards the finish line in 1st place only to screw up on a turn, spin out and finish 12th. You get frustrated with your own ability, not the game and you find yourself saying one more go, I know I can do better next time. Quite often, for me at least, there were many next times before I finally finished in the top 3 and when I did, it felt good.
One aspect of the game that is a bit cheap but understandable is that if you're approaching a turn, if you use your power up and smash into a car in the middle of the turn, the game shows a scene of your victim crashing and you make the corner without having to drive it, that is after the cut scene, you're around the corner and on the straightaway.
There's no offline splitscreen multi-player which is a drag and the game loses points for that.
So far, I'm having fun with the game but I can't say it's better than games like Blur or Split Second - it's just a good challenging racing game and if that's what you're after, you probably won't be disappointed.