Lori

the ring system might be one of my favorite mechanics in any racing game in a long time. the basic appeal of "go faster NOW" is the timeless fantasy for a reason, but of course youre never gonna be able to achieve that while still keeping an engaging or balanced race. so to tie it to this kind of always available, plentiful resource is such an immediate decisionmaking baked into every interaction.
from acceleration and the rate of it, to how you want to move into or out of corners, to the fact that you can't use rings while you have an item out. its to the point that ring boxes appear in place of already taken item boxes, preventing 1st place from grabbing rings so easily, while still letting them snag firepower out from those behind them, but in exchange the one behind can take a lead the more straightforward way of just...getting rings.
and all of this culminating in using the rings themselves. you dont just get a speed boost. you get a stacking effect, and in scenarios you can find yourself stacking rings to such an extent that you dont let go of the ring button for an entire stretch, faster and faster while that all organic risk of "one mistake will cost everything" only grows more and more perilous. and thats when the kicker comes in of making rings your "health" a la f-zero.
its one of those things that comes off bloated until you notice how much every aspect of the game is affected by rings and their usage, and solidifies what it is i love so much about ring racers' design philosophy of this "analog" approach to every aspect of play, control over everything that happens to you to make the classic kart racer gameplay loop of perfecting and optimizing movement while also mitigating chaos honed to a sheen. and when you have its rhythm down, you wont be able to get the reward anywhere else, from corporations to indie games, in something you can only get from a mod made by people with a thorough understanding inside and out.