i just now realized there's a vehicle in ballisticNG that has insane acceleration, handling, and top speed, but 0 shield. so you'll die in like 3 hits if you hit walls.

for me, that means pure races (ones without weapons) are basically a walk in the park now lol. just learn the track and you're gucci.

part of why i fucking love f-zero so much is because there AREN'T any weapons or power ups. it's all just extremely fast racing and reaction time with failure coming very swiftly if you suck and controlling your ship. no chance with weapons butt fucking you from behind to worry about. don't get me wrong though items and stuff is still fun, it can just get annoying at times.