Style over substance.

Course design wasn't good on top of being too long. Physics were abysmal, especially in the air. Boosts were changed from maintainance to bursts, so it wasn't about good driving anymore. Everytime I tried to replay the game in the last eight years or so, I shut it down after playing a few tracks, because I was reminded of how poor and boring almost everything is. There are so many stinkers in the track selection. Lightning (Half Pipe), Cosmo Terminal (Trident), Port Town (Long Pipe), Casino (long version), Lightning (long version), Green Plant (long version). And Phantom Road has infuriating AI; those cheap bastards can go full speed in the final section whereas the player is sent off the track.

Style over substance.

Course design wasn't good on top of being too long. Physics were abysmal, especially in the air. Boosts were changed from maintainance to bursts, so it wasn't about good driving anymore. Everytime I tried to replay the game in the last eight years or so, I shut it down after playing a few tracks, because I was reminded of how poor and boring almost everything is. There are so many stinkers in the track selection. Lightning (Half Pipe), Cosmo Terminal (Trident), Port Town (Long Pipe), Casino (long version), Lightning (long version), Green Plant (long version). And Phantom Road has infuriating AI; those cheap bastards can go full speed in the final section whereas the player is sent off the track.

On the SNES the boosts lasted for several seconds, but that's not really what I was refering to. They improved the boost system for X and that's what GX should have built upon instead of changing it for the worse.

In X each boost gives you a push after which your speed slowly decreases, unlike in GX where it evaporates much quicker. Additionally, you are vulnerable to losing control over your vehicle while you travel above regular speed; if you press the stick too far to the side, all your speed is going to be gone and more. In GX it doesn't matter, if you are a clutz; you can't lose control, even if you have stacked several boosts on top of each other.

If you combine that with the track design of each game, X shows its strengths even better. If you can handle the boost speed, then you will be going at high speed almost all the time from lap 2 onwards on almost all courses; you have that constant intensity. In GX you get a lot of downtime, because the boosts don't last long and because the tracks are too long. Some courses try to rectify the problem by having two or more recharge sections, but it doesn't work out all the time. Courses like Sand Ocean (first cup), Lightning (first cup) and Port Town (both in the second cup) are clearly missing a second recharge section. (Speaking of Port Town, the last version of it (the Cylinder) is absolutely awful; forgot to mention it in the previous post.)

You can lose control, but that's due to the surface. It happens in sections where a track is not entirely flat. Green Plant (Moebius Ring) is notorious for it due to its very design (that stripe in the middle that goes from start to finish). Other tracks have such irregularities too, but it's not blatantly obvious to see.

"Higher simulated speed" hits the nail on the head. If your brain blends out the excessive use of horizontal lines on the surface of most tracks (as well as other tricks), then the game doesn't appear even half as fast anymore. I'd say Port Town (first version) is the best example of those lines; you should try it.