Despite being a fanboy of previous Ridge Racer titles, I may have to accept the fact that this game in the series and onward is objectively an improvement of the drift mechanic of previous games, and not a flanderization as I previously thought. In addition to placing the drift mechanic more at the front and center of the game and its marketing, the drifting is much more fluid now and even features varying degrees of drift-ability between vehicles, denoted by the Standard, Mild, and Dynamic vehicle types that handle noticeably differently. On top of that, the addition of a nitro system is a logical conclusion- the player can fill up their nitro meter while drifting, killing two birds with one stone and making the game extra satisfying. The nitros can then be used to increase speed on subsequent corners, allowing the player to more easily refill their nitro they just used up- essentially chaining nitros into one another.
The problem is that the developers at Namco seemed to have rested on their laurels and focused on this one aspect to the detriment of anything else that makes a good game release, stuffing an otherwise great mechanic into what is possibly the most boring and repetitive single player mode in a racing game ever. As if deciding that the drift mechanic is the only thing needed to make the game interesting, the developers seemed content with simply forcing the player to race each of the game's twelve courses in both forward and reverse as many times as possible, by offering seven different speed classes (more than half of which are obviously too slow to belong in a game featuring the gameplay mechanics that it does) in races that are so easy that they will have you falling asleep at the wheel. These problems are compounded when you start to realize that the gameplay, while fine, could perhaps have still been made better, such as improving the driving physics when -not- in a drift, making better collision physics (the cars react like balloons) or by maybe allowing the player to gain nitro while using it. (that or making the nitros hold-to-use like Burnout)
What's insulting in particular is that they released a follow up game, Ridge Racer 2, which is essentially the same exact game but with a few extra courses patched in, effectively forcing you to do everything all over again. Seeing as you can take every corner blindfolded, adding new courses scarcely matter much compared to changing the gameplay. (at least Ridge Racer 6 and 7 tweaked the nitro system.. which barely seems like much, but at least it's more than what Ridge Racer 2 did!) This is just as with Dissidia 012- either the sequel should not have been made or the original should have been scrapped in favor of the sequel. You know that hardcore fans are going to play each installment, so don't release the same game multiple times just to add a few things.