While I’m absolutely a fan of racing games, and always love to see new ones arrive in the Switch eShop, I’ll openly admit that I’m more wired to enjoy arcade-style racing than simulations. That said, having played quite a lot of them over the years, while I do always struggle with them more than their more forgiving counterparts, I can usually dial in and get used to how they work.

As the name implies, Formula Legends is absolutely for fans of F1 racing, though lacking any licensing it has opted for a more cartoonish overall look with very squat little cars, as well as fictitious racers and teams. Despite its more approachable look though, you’d be making a mistake to assume that it isn’t shooting for a more overall sim-like feel with regards to the on-track action. Though it lacks the intricacies of deeper sim racing titles, where you’ll need to account for all sorts of variables and more extensive team management, when it comes to driving you’ll need to approach it with a degree of seriousness. Just don’t expect provisions for on-track assistance with racing lines outside of the tire tracks you’ll see in the corners, and aside from some mild control help you’ll need to tackle the ins and outs of successful laps on your own.

This runs into some trouble in a few different areas, but we’ll start with the fact that even on the Switch 2 the game’s performance isn’t great overall. There’s a visible jittery quality to the movement of the other cars on the track, most noticeably in the turns, and at times it can be a distraction. On the control side of the fence, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, but especially in the Story Mode where you’ll have the opportunity to drive vintage cars from the racing past they can feel a bit dodgy. In particular where sharp turns are necessary at times, I swear it felt like the car had a turning radius of a school bus, but of course the competition was happy to scoot right along on the racing lines without a care in the world. Yes, perhaps I just needed to spend more time with it to “git gud”, but for the most part it was only hairpin turns where I had consistent issues, otherwise I could typically hold my own reasonably well. Somewhat amusingly, given the pretty poor physics in the game, I actually found a great strategy to be taking the inside of turns and letting my banging into another car on the outside keep me on the track.

In the end, to some degree, this game feels like it has an identity crisis. At a glance you’d think it would be a more casual affair for all types of racing fans, but in its heart it feels like it really would like to be taken seriously as a more sim-style experience. The thing is, lacking the licenses and deeper management options, by comparison it would only be a sim-lite at best, bringing me back to the thought that it has made some odd choices, and I’m not entirely sure who this is for.