I loved the sharpness of RRV to bits, still do really.
Also, the intro movie shows the Solvalou, one of the cars in RRV.... I guess it's not a straight port, but there's a lot of RRV influence in this game.
Some of the original RR theme songs are brilliant.
The original was my definite alternative summer happy game from Daytona - not saying that RR is in the same league as Daytona, but back when the arcades was blooming it was a very happy summery feeling game. Lovely...
Some day all the Rage Racer fans have to show me some videos of you playing the game because I deffinitelly suck at both Rage Racer and RRT4...Imo the two RR games with less RR feeling...