The races themselves are fun to play, collisions are exciting and the potential for using skullduggery in your driving method is an important aspect to winning a race. The AI in the game is pretty solid and when you first begin playing it often seems like the computer controlled opponents are purposefully keeping themselves just out of sight so that you feel like you "nearly did it" as you cross the finish line. Sooner or later you will (hopefully) begin properly competing in the races even though winning one can be the difference in the final jump on any given course. Interestingly, just as opponents will not appear to gain too much ground on you when you are a beginner, you may find the opposite is true as you become more skilled and that you never gain more than a few hundred meters ahead of your competitors.