While there are absolutely some great racing games on the Switch, I do really wish there were more to choose from. That said, just because I find myself jonesing for a new racer every now and then, it doesn’t mean that I’m willing to settle for less. Given that Formula 1 racing is only minimally represented on the system, there’s absolutely room for a new competitor to take the pole position in the field. Unfortunately, though Ala Mobile has a decent look, and some pretty deep management options, its on-track action comes up short.

If you happen to be a fan of team management and tuning your settings in the garage, you may find that aspect of play to be quite satisfying. I’ll admit that my interest is more in getting to the track and the action, so the degree of minutia it wanted me to pay attention to felt a bit excessive, but I could absolutely see where gearheads would feel differently. The real shame is that visually the game looks pretty decent, and even performs well without feeling like it’s lagging or jittering too much.

Unfortunately, the racing itself is a bit of a mess and the issues begin with the controls, which are far too sensitive when it comes to turning. Really, it feels like you may as well just be trying to use the D-Pad, as there’s hardly any noticeable nuance or proper utilization of the analog stick. Another aspect that I wasn’t a fan of was that in certain turns it felt like my driver would start to downshift before I had even gotten to the turn or started braking. Once I noticed this I actually started trying to understand what it was doing and why, so it really fouled up my trying to get a feel for the braking going into turns. Last, the physics of the cars making contact with each other is just odd, especially given how contact in Formula 1 tends not to be a great idea. Your competitors don’t seem to think much of bumping into you though if you’re in their racing line, and in general this makes them seem pretty mindless at times and not as carefully refined as some of the competition.

All in all I have absolutely played worse racers, and there are aspects the game gets right that fans of team and car management may enjoy. The stumbling block will absolutely be the on-track action though, which is unfortunate given how obviously important that aspect is to a racing game’s success. Perhaps more simulation-minded people will have patience with it if they can overcome the somewhat touchy controls, but for arcade racing fans this would be an absolute miss.