Let's get one thing straight right away: I like racing games; racing games don't like me.
That in mind, I downloaded Ridge Racer: Driftopia because it was free to play and available on Steam. I can forgive a lot of frustration if I'm not paying for a game with real dollars, and that's a good thing with this game because it quickly had me spouting curses.
If you crash, you spend repair kits to fix your car. The better your car, the more kits it will take to repair it and if you can't afford it you'll lose the car permanently. Now, that doesn't bother me outright, but it is very easy to crash either by your own hand or due to the ruthless "spirits" of other players which race against you. I've had to close the game and come back the next day with more repair kits just to save my best car more than once.
Were this a more impressive game, I would feel more compelled to discuss the rest of the notes I made while playing the game, but the simple fact it that the game isn't special. There's nothing glaringly wrong with it, either, so if you're someone looking for a game to waste a little time with, this is as good a candidate as any. You get a car, you drive the car, you get boosts, you get a new car, you drive the new car, ad infinitum.
This is a game you can play for a few weeks, and then forget about forever.
