Whatever happened to the Racing genre?

[Peh]

ICStats said:
Namco lost everything that was good about Ridge Racer after PS1 era.
 

I never understood what was good about Ridge Racer in the first place. It was just 1 course in 4 variations and that's it. The demo of the game was more than enough for me, and I never touched it again.

I just don't get the hype about this game.