I don't have a lot of nostalgia for crash as a series and CTR was not something I ever really played but I did play some of nitro kart as a kid and specifically remember having a hard time against Geary, that robot prick...
But from what i've read and heard, this is a really strong remake in all the right areas, the only parts where it falls flat are in the things it adds, not the things it updates which is pretty typical.

CTR is not your casual kart racer, I think that's why I struggled a lot with it in the beginning. I'd played karting games before like mario kart, sega all stars racing transformed and modnation racers but at their core, all of those games are quite surface level and simplistic. Sure they all have depth & strategy hidden somewhere underneath, but in these regards they're definitely outshined by CTR, but it's not to everyone's taste. Winning in CTR will not come naturally to most I feel (at least on medium or hard difficulty), It took me until the last hubworld, after facing a LOT of losses over and over again to actually get reasonably good at this. But what makes CTR really gratifying to play is the way that it punishes poor play but massively rewards skillful play. On top of that, core driving skill isn't enough to succeed in CTR, it demands a fundamental understanding of its really quite deep mechanics from the player. When CTR hits right, it's almost more akin to a rhythm game than a driving game which sounds really odd but I think it's true. Once you've learned a track thoroughly, have an understanding of sliding/turbo boosting and know how to optimise your speed, it becomes primarily a test of snaking around corners efficiently with precise timing, which relies on pressing the right buttons at the right moments - not unlike a rythm game.

Adding to that, another thing I noticed quickly about CTR is how easy it is to 'bonk' into things. In mario kart you can scrape or bump into a wall by accident and it shouldn't slow you down too significantly, but in CTR, I found on many occasions I was coming to a complete stop or slowed down so much that I would lose several places. The game can be pretty harsh in this way, but it feels earned because of how rewarding it feels to avoid doing that once you get good at the game.
Importantly, CTR is a game that also rewards skillful play through items that are generally very reasonable and not busted like in other kart racers. There's no blue shells so if you earn first place, so there's no major bullshit to steal it from you. Additionally, if you're right at the back of the pack, there's no bullshit bullet bill, no golden mushroom esque super speed boost item, nothing really to handhold you except maybe the mask which is probably the best item in the game, but even then it's nothing insane, it's basically the star from mario kart. Those items are things i've come to dislike in mario kart but I understand why they exist, mario kart is a series for everyone and that is its appeal. Casual or pro, mario kart can often feel like a game of chance. Obviously there's still time trials, you can still turn off bullshit items and good players will win far more consistently, but CTR is extreme as far as kart racers go because it LETS you be good at the game in a way and that's what makes it so fun once you GET good.

The visuals, track themes and layouts, the music and the general aesthetic of this game are all on point. So many beautiful scenic locations with goofy wacky shit going on. There's also loads of nice callbacks to the original trilogy and lots of nice fanservice as you would expect. So I think its fair to say that this game basically nails it in terms of core gameplay.

Where the game falls somewhat in my estimations is in another area really. Like its stinky microtransactions that activision just had to add. I'd like to play as more characters and with more kart builds, there's lots of them and they look great! Unfortunately, you can't just buy who you want, you have to refresh a page of like 8 items and you only get 2 refreshes per day! Wack! The 'coins' to purchase things are also really hard to acquire, I think I got like 3k from completing the entire adventure mode which isn't enough to buy like, a single legendary item. So you had better get your wallet out to buy some fucking coins mate. That shit sucks hard.
If you don't participate in said microtransactions or otherwise play the game a LOT and daily, you're unlikely to be able to make that build that you want. Just let me choose the character I want to play as mate.

One other inconvenience is the games' long ass loading times (accidentally hopped into a level and I was scrolling through my phone because you have to wait ages to get into the race, press pause and get out, then wait ages to get out the race lmao). It feels nitpicky and whiny to be pointing that out but I was sometimes bothered by it so worth mentioning I guess.

So that's it! I still have a couple tracks left to try out and I want to give some CTR token races and some more crystal challenges a go, but I don't think they'll change this overall review. Just a really solid good time and among the best racing games i've played!

Relembrei toda a minha infância com esse jogo, e percebi que, mesmo após 15 anos, eu ainda lembrava de muita coisa, dos atalhos, de como fazer o kart dar aquele nitro boost quase que o tempo todo, das fases do modo aventura. E eu adorei que essa versão remasterizada, além de estar muito linda, permite que você coloque skins nos personagens, e tem muitos personagens novos também. O fato de você poder mudar o modo de corrida de cada kart também é muito útil. Um jogaço que me trouxe diversão por muitas horas.

A few things holding this back from true greatness, but still remains a pretty exceptional kart racer. It's a shame that its drift is so finnicky for precise play, because mechanically the thing is close to perfection - beyond satisfying to pop off perfect turbo boosts in quick succession, and it works essentially as intended for casual racing. But in a game that emphasizes its own (fair and richly rewarding) difficulty, reliable inputs are crucial - which are hindered doubly so due to this also having maybe the world's most delayed jump that will fail you at least 50% of the time. The tracks are just phenomenal though, catered sharply to the game's physics/mechanics - the only two tracks in the entire roster that are anything less than amazing are Cortex Castle and Oxide Station (can't believe there's so much love for those two considering how slapdash and awkward they feel to play). Their art style, too, is pristine. Plus, as is the case with the rest of Crash's recent fare, this feels like a God's honest love letter to the franchise. Though the crystal challenges are the same type of horrible, not fun extra content as - say - the Challenge of the Gods in the early God of War games. Also microtransactions.

This was the first game I ever bought with my own money, being 17 at the time of its release and by that point also being heavily into the Crash and Spyro games. This game is one of the greatest kart racers of all time, and it is a crying shame the way Activision treated it.

Adding in microtransactions after the reviews is incredibly underhanded and rotten. They then proceeded to stop the Wumpa Cups, have Beenox create a big final update, then sent them off to the CoD mines completely after making the Pro Skater 1 + 2 remasters and Crash 4.

No PC port. No dedicated servers. Fuck you, Activision, for killing what was one of the most solid kart racers ever made just under a year of its release.

I played the original game all the way back on the PS1 when I was 6. One of the first video games I ever played and one I hold a lot of fond memories with. This game did the original justice and is a perfect remaster of the original PS1 classic in my eyes.
It has the appeal of the original while still adding a lot of new characters, costumes, and of course online play. I played this from release until it stopped updating early 2020 and it was a blast. A lot nice memories, specifically December 2019 around Christmas time.
Would recommend to anyone who wants to try a Kart racer that isn't Mario Kart. This game is a lot more challenging and technical than Mario Kart though in its drifting mechanics and it can be seen when playing online with more experienced players. It'll probably take some time to get used to coming from Mario Kart, but it'll feel pretty rewarding once you start understanding how to chain your drifts together and taking advantage environmental shortcuts.
One more note, I personally preferred the Switch version because of the portability, but also because I liked how the fur wasn't as detailed like it was in the PS4 and Xbox versions. It comes to personal preference but it is something to consider if you have to decide between the different versions and the switch never had any performance issues in my over 80 hours of gameplay.