Racing without gravity doesn't work very well...
Using a more arcadey control scheme isn't necessarily a bad thing. The real problem comes into play when gravity is tossed out of the window and overly floaty physics are introduced. In Monster Jam the cars are barely controllable on flat surfaces and are highly vulnerable to the smallest collision. Impacting an errant piece of fruit can make the cars flail wildly, smacking them into walls or off of narrow paths into ever-present chasms or bodies of water. Impacting other racers is just as if not more hazardous, often with the player ending up facing the wrong way if not plummeting into some type of void. With the wonky physics and lighter-than-air vehicles you'll likely wind up jammed into odd corners or on your back more than a turtle. The difficulty of crushing cars and not losing control makes what should be satisfying mayhem an effective method of aversion therapy.
The key to winning standard races is to avoid touching anything and to make constant use of shortcuts. The AI never seems to notice these infrequently place detours for some reason. The stunt-based arenas are more entertaining simply because the uncontrollable vehicles aren't as much of a liability. Being thrown into walls due to an errant box fragment isn't going to doom the player to a low score. Sadly, the game makes heavy use of having to complete its season mode in order to gain more arenas within which to squish things. Winning races is more a matter of luck than skill so it becomes a matter of rampant frustration and tedium.
Visually the game is pretty unremarkable but tries to impress with attention to smaller details. Cars can and will lose part of their exterior paneling. On dirt tracks mud flies and sticks to the vehicles which lends a much-needed touch of realism. Water doesn't react much whenever errant monster trucks drown in the murky depths, but supposedly being a racing game one isn't supposed to be playing in the briney deep anyway. Objects break in pre-determined ways but their remains do stay on the track for the duration as hazards. It's not going to win any awards but it isn't a victim of the ugly stick, either. Sadly, its adequate graphics are all it has going for it. Sounds are frequently repeated and don't lend much of an impact. The game isn't helped by its annoying announcer whose lines are stale and often aren't necessary or even applicable to the action. The game also lacks any option to shut him up, a feature which most modern racing games have embraced.
This is a game that hates its players and makes no attempt to conceal it. Something is seriously wrong if a game based upon a sport whose primary goal is flattening small objects penalizes its players for attempting to do so.