When it comes to the racing genre, outside of the likes of Mario Kart and a few other stand-outs, it has simply been slow going on the Switch and now the Switch 2. That isn’t to say there aren’t any racing games at all, we do get a trickle of them, but unfortunately the regularity of seeing a real banger come down the pike has been limited. Having some previous familiarity with the Gear.Club franchise, and being underwhelmed overall by the last outing on the Switch, I’ll admit that hearing the announcement of this new entry in the series only prompted mild interest for me… but now having spent quite a lot of time with it, I’m here to say that it’s absolutely a fabulous option for Switch fans looking for a tense mix of road racing action!

To be clear, when you have the likes of Forza Horizon and other top-tier racers out there defining the cutting edge of the genre, this still isn’t in that class, but it certainly sits in a space on par with the Need for Speed series, delivering a driving experience somewhere between arcade and sim. With the ability to choose either your general driver level, or individual driver assists, you can scale the challenge up or down, but the fundamentals below those choices still stand. Each car has its own distinct handling, so you’ll likely have many cars, but settle into a few you prefer. With periodic special events where they’ll throw you into some sort of supercar, or ones that will force you to use ones with some specific traits, you’ll need to be adaptable though, and at least able to grit out races that will push your core driving skills.

Where it’s particularly clear that this isn’t a purely arcade experience is how much of an emphasis there is in the game on clean driving. Sure, you’ll be able to make contact and rely on the guardrails to keep you on the track at times, but there are bonuses and even types of races where minimizing your contact is vital to your success. Nowhere is this usually more crucial than in the urban highway races where you’ll need to weave through a substantial amount of traffic, forced to drive as fast as you can, using the shoulder or any openings you see to keep your speed up and minimize the amount of paint you’re trading. The thing is, once you’ve settled into the few cars that suit you the controls absolutely hold up for the sort of nuanced steering you’ll need to do to cut between lanes, even driving between cars when necessary in order to keep the pace. Throw in plenty of courses that will take you through hilly and winding roads, and you can consistently count on varied challenges to keep you in the game.

Putting it all together, outside of the very different style of racing in Wreckfest, I’d say this is the most satisfying racer I’ve played on the Switch or Switch 2. I found it interesting that you could choose between Performance and Quality modes, but while I can say the Quality mode had a minor edge in terms of the game’s appearance, the cost to framerate and handling wasn’t worth it. In Performance mode, even when things could get crowded on the road, I can’t say I ever felt any dip in handling, though you could get some visual fuzziness in places. I believe the developers made the right decision though, ensuring that the game feels good, has cars that all perform a bit differently to help people find ones that suit them, and has enough variety with its different locales and racing modes to make your typical racing fan very happy.