You definitely nailed the retro racer vibes. And I got to say, I did not plug in a gamepad for this which is typically the classic mistake while playing a racing game. But I found that your game actually played great with the keyboard anyways, so that in and of itself is impressive. Loved the music and the different courses, you managed to give each one a very unique look. The only feedback I would give is that the AI racers seem a bit too good, as I made one mistake early in the race and then never saw them again.
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I think that is a good way to look at it. If one racer was doing that well but the other bots had different skill levels, it would make it feel a bit better. I might not be a great reference for if the difficulty is balanced though as I haven't played a racing game in a little while. But a difficulty slider/option might be a good way to go about it too.