This game is a lot of fun, definitely worth $20.
Speaking of gameplay, I have to say that the racing is actually quite a bit of fun. You have a few different modes to choose from, single race, time trial, speed lap, and the zone (the zone is where your race vehicle continuously goes faster and faster and you see how long you can last before receiving the maximum amount of damage). The races are usually pretty close due to the short distances (usually 3-4 laps per race, time trial/speed lap around 3-7 laps) so expect a lot of close, nail biting races and sometimes finishes. Overall though between the ship upgrades and challenging courses the game is pretty fun. On top of that, the difficulty level is very manageable. At first it's quite easy to get a gold medal but move onto more events and it gradually gets more challenging.
If you don't want to do the campaign, you can set up single races in either 1 player or 2 player split screen which is nice since some racing games have been leaving this feature out. You can also race online against 7 opponents and so far online play has been excellent with no lag or random disconnects. It's pretty intense too, almost kinda like motorstorm meets twisted metal in a futuristic sense.
On top of all this, the graphics are great, the explosions and effects from weapons are pretty cool, framerate is rock solid at 60fps, and there's stuff like tracks, racers, a photo mode where you can take some pretty neat screenshots with motion and focus effects added, and paint schemes to unlock. AND of course plenty of trophies too. If you're a racing gamer and want something fun to mess around with this would probably be a good title to download. BTW, it will take up about 1GB of space on your hard drive ;).