Thanks for your thoughts!
Struggling with particles? Hmmm, I don't have that problem even on my 6 year old laptop. Are you also on a laptop with 2 GPUs? It's quite possible that the game is using an integrated GPU instead of a dedicated one. When the game starts alt+tab to the console and see what it says on the top for "GL Version:". If this is the case you need to go to your windows "Graphics Settings" and set the game to performance mode. This is an annoying problem with OpenGL - it has no control over which GPU is used, the OS is the one which decides.
Falling off the map: Yeah, I should add some fail safe for that, the track is really not finished tho, it's all WIP, a lot of objects and props are missing, and those include stage blockers as well preventing you to stray too much off track.