Ring Racers is a gem, the somewhat lengthy tutorial and the mostly fixed single player rubber-banding won't take that away from it.
This game joins CTR in the field of kart racers that just "get it", it's very technical with a lot of inter-woven mechanics making the game a blast to play and get better at. The ring-feeding being a variant of the F-zero boost mechanic adds a lot of strategy and intense moments compared to robo kart, I love that the devs went and honed such disruptive ideas, really ends up being a breath of fresh air in the kart racing field.
On the presentation side I think the game has a pretty strong themeing which really transpires in both visuals and soundtrack, there is a staggering amount of content (like 8 times the amount of tracks in a typical new mario kart) though the circuits still managed to be highly varied but still consistent with the core theme, of course the sonic (& some sega) IP helps with its long history but the fan-service is a given in such a project and if anything makes it easier to love.
I also want to mention the single player progression which I think is really well realized, it uses a similar system to the challenge wall in smash brawl, which lets you play the game as intended but keeping side objectives in mind, it really encourages you to play more of the game and feels good feeding you rewards regularly, also have the option to skip some of the challenges if you feel like it. I also like how many secrets are hidden among the tracks, it's really fun to explore familiar areas in a new light and discover all the effort that went into them (most of them being linked to unlocks too).
Overall this is an amazing fan-project that isn't afraid to push its genre forward, both in mechanics and how it handles progression, and a beautiful love-letter to the sonic IP.

Day One player, also Day One Kart player, it is a different handling beast than SRB2Kart and the tutorial does take a while, but beyond that, getting used to the curve of the new physics and juicing up the Kart with rings has been quite the new experience.

...I ended up playing six hours total last night after it launched. Six hours on DAY ONE.

...And a lot of that was spent online, as I've only completed four cups so far. It won me over.

A lot of the whining this game gets mainly comes from people who treat games like these as fun little timewasters instead of full fledged games, this was never meant to be a replacement for SRB2K like so many people keep insisting (the devs have said that the master server for SRB2K will be kept up) if you wanna play a fun basic MK-Like kart racer then SRB2K is still right there! This game is NOT SRB2K however.

I don't think gating online behind completing (you don't even have to beat it!) a cup is unreasonable at all and the whole "you need 80 spray cans to unlock time trials" is straight up a lie, all you need to do is beat all first page cups with a bronze medal minimum (completely reasonable since you can get all unlocks on any difficulty unless its specified otherwise)
The tutorial WAS pretty terrible since it emphazises too much on mechanics you won't use normally during a race (unless im wrong none of the first page levels have any shortcuts involving the switches, only secrets) and it completely glosses over important mechanics unique to this game like the start position change, tether system, and the drift you can do after hitting a boost panel. I did like the way it was presented though and the interactions between tails and eggman were cute and well written.
There are also some problems with the AI being WAY too rubberbandy, I understand its needed for games like this but sometimes due to the tether system your "rival" in second place can sometimes get an invincibility powerup and theres not really anything you can do to stop them from passing you.
The presentation of EVERYTHING in this game is gorgeous and the amount of love this game has for everything Sonic and SEGA related is incredible (there are entire zones based on levels from fangames!) Just an incredible looking game.

Overall I think with a few tweaks this could easily be one of the greatest kart racers of all time, just hope the devs don't over correct due to all of the mostly misplaced negative feedback.

Long-winded shitty tutorial for non-gamers makes the game sound more complicated than it actually is while simultaneously not teaching you mechanics you will interact with in your very first race, creating a dangerously fake skill filter and leaving a disastrous first impression.

As an example - the tutorial spends like 10 minutes teaching you about your backup emergency attack that you can use while out of rings, while spending 5 seconds to tell you rings are a boost/health meter akin to F-Zero that you should be spending constantly. Another example - the closest thing to a race track you drive on in the entire tutorial is a drifting track that requires you to hit maximum level drift boosts, when the actual race tracks in the game are designed around drifting for short periods of time outside of extremely wide turns.

Anyways there's a THE iDOLM@STER stage that doubles as Honey the Cat's home stage

Absolutely awful in every way but an incredibly interesting footnote in video game history. One of the only official pc ports of a nintendo game.

The physics really ruin it, it barely moves when you're trying to run and the jumps last a fraction of a second. The game runs at about 15fps by default making it difficult to move properly. The emulator died about 20 minutes in so I called it then.

Try out the nes super mario bros mod for this game instead of the actual port. Apparently it actually has 8 worlds and from what i've seen its different but still competent levels.

2/10

Justice of Galaxy started playing.
The music had a moment- a dramatic sting. In perfect sync with this, the game introduces an enemy type you've never seen before in droves.

All 6 of them begin moving and shooting at the precise second the track kicks in. The rest of the stage never lets up after this.

I haven't beaten this game. I don't know if I'm going to be able to anytime soon. But things like that are what earns 10/10s from me; the understanding that the visuals and audio can be just as important to a game as its mechanics, and just as impactful if used correctly. The impression was definitely made, and now I'm committed to seeing it through.

This game wipes the floor with my ass and I keep coming back just because of that. I don't even care if the background is the same for the whole thing. It's good. And free!