A little simplistic on some levels, but actually quite a pleasant surprise.
Graphically, the game isn't pushing any envelopes, but even with the merely serviceable graphics, the sense of speed portrayed once a player gets past the Amateur league is fairly impressive.
I'll go out on a limb and say what many are thinking "This guy rates a bargain bin title like this higher than FORZA Motorsport?"
Why, yes.
Yes I do.
With Quantum Redshift, the level of difficulty is nominal at worst and the game does not give AI racers the unfair advantage of being unbound by laws of physics which it turns around and applies to you in spades.
I'll quit with the "apples-to-oranges" comparison after saying that while the sense of accomplishment that a QR player might feel upon winning a tournament or unlocking another racer may not be the same as what one might get from other, deeper racing games, it can also be said that playing Quantum Redshift will generally also not include the sense of controller-flinging, forehead-smashing, monitor-cursing frustration of getting clipped hard and fast in a tight turn and moving from first place to last with insurmountable damage to your alignment and tires for the twentieth time.
Beside the fantastical/surreal aspect of these types of racers, a big part of the joy of futuristic racers with weapon power-ups is that when you get hosed by an AI competitor, you can do unto it as it has done unto you, and not only are you not penalized for it or harmed by it, you are actually rewarded for it, which can be a very satisfying thing.
As i mentioned, the game does lack some degree of depth in terms of the vehicle and terrain types available to you and the character biographies cut-scenes and rivalry system are rather perfunctory, but on its face, the gameplay and the progressive concept of getting more money for vehicular upgrades being based on beating your previous performances in terms of position, time and points scored for collecting power-ups and using them on your opponents makes QR just addictive enough that the three to ten dollars you are likely to spend on a copy where you can find it will be more than worth it.
Another positive note is the availability of the Custom Soundtracks feature, which allowed me the freedom to import enough interesting tracks from my music collection to make the experience that much more enjoyable and unique, as i sometimes like to throw a little metal into my mix to spice up and space out my trance-techno tracks.
In all, I'd have to file this game as the proverbial "hidden gem" in that even if it not earth-shatteringly great, it is a fun title and one you are likely to find dirt cheap.