As a huge fan of racing games, for the most part of any kind, I’ll admit that I continue to remain thoroughly underwhelmed by the middling number the Switch got over its lifespan, even if I did end up enjoying almost half of them to varying degrees. My preferences trend towards combat-oriented and more arcade-style feels, but a well-made sim can also be a nice challenge. Then there are titles like First Racer, which are more of an enigma when trying to characterize them, lacking the excitement or flair of your typical arcade-style offering, but not showing enough depth to be a sim. With that in mind, we’ll review what it has to offer.

Starting out you’ll need to choose between a limited number of vehicles that are within your budget to settle on the one you want. The base characteristics of the different cars do ultimately have some effect on how they handle, but early on since you’ll generally be working at lower speeds honestly I think you could just go for what you’d prefer. You will have some options to aesthetically customize your ride, but given the pretty humble choices, and the general budget nature of the game, I can’t say diving into decals or other more elaborate details felt like time well-spent. Hitting the track there are absolutely racing games I’ve played which have felt worse, but I wouldn’t say the game has a polished feel either. Let’s settle on it being “rough around the edges”.

Considering it’s a racing game, the most vital elements at play would be a proper feeling of speed, how well it handles, and just how exciting the races can be. On pretty well all fronts it’s a mixed bag though. Given the fact that I’ve taken many budget racers to task for lacking a sense of speed, I’ll at least give First Racer some credit for getting that part right. Even early on, while you’re hardly tearing things up, it at least doesn’t feel like you could jog faster than you’re driving, and that’s important. In terms of the handling though, the story isn’t quite as good, with a feeling that would best be described as stiff. When you progress to drifting events I did at least find the gameplay worked sensibly enough, and that is a feature many budget racers lack, so it could be considered a plus. When it comes to on-track physics there’s no missing the fact that collisions feel more like bumper cars than anything else that comes to mind, and that does sting a bit overall.

While by no means would I consider this a great racer, I’ve also honestly played so many that are far worse that I’d at least declare it somewhere in the middle. If you’re looking for arcade-style action, you’ll definitely want to pass, since its leanings are much more in the direction of a sim, but honestly it’s pretty short of that bar on a general level as well in terms of depth and refinement. It honestly reminds me most of playing a racing game on a tablet or mobile device, and while in some ways that could be good enough depending on what you’re looking for, it feels underwhelming on a system that’s obviously capable of so much better.