If they execute their "card system" well then the hope is that everyone should be able to make the craft handle how they want. However, even if you can get the craft to handle the way you want it to, there's no guarantee that it will be the best/quickest setup. What if the fastest card combo results in handling you dislike and/or the setup which feels the best to you results in a really slow ship?

This is why I can see why people who do not like the current handling would be worried even if you can technically tweak it. That being said, I personally am happy with the direction FF is going and the added depth that customization brings.

As for being race focused, I love this! I absolutely hated how hard it was to find a race in 2048 when it seems like everyone just wanted to play elimination mode. The only problem is that while pure racing appeals to people like myself and probably most people on wipeoutzone, I worry that it won't gain enough traction when the average consumer that just wants to blow things up. Hopefully R8 can still ship enough units.