I too had mixed emotions about the prospect of there being no barrel rolls. After much consideration, I've decided they just don't feel... canonical to me, though, and they never will. As much as I got used to them, I'm actually looking forward to returning to the old WipEout/XL/3 style of play - and if there's no side shift, for that matter... all the better. I was never a fan of side-shift. In any event, a number of posters have pointed out that this is not a WipEout game, strictly speaking. All I hope is that this does not mean that the game engine will be so different as to be unrecognizable - what I mean is I hope the airbrakes still work the same (as yaw). This was one of the original wipeout's distinguishing features back in the day, and the reason I was surprised when they incorporated the side-shift (which is from F-Zero).