JDubYes

If you slow down a bit, to still go round the corner as quickly as you can, you’re keeping traction, so can then start accelerating again as soon as possible, and that’s generally the fastest way to do it, aka the “racing line”.

Drifting is normally slower because it means that you’re scrubbing off speed, because your tyres have lost traction, so you aren’t putting power down anymore, plus it takes longer to regain that control/traction and start accelerating again.

That’s my basic understanding, anyway, as well as quite a good indicator of why the best (or at least most fun) racing games are the ones that eschew completely realistic physics and instead encourage sliding around like a lunatic (and/or are rally games).

Play

Persona 5 Strikers - I'd been told this was a surprisingly good and faithful sequel to the main game, but still wasn't prepared for just how much of a good and faithful sequel it really is - boil the social links down into one overarching Bond system, and replace the turn-based battles with a Musou-style fighting game, and you have Persona 5 Strikers. The overworld navigation, the soundtrack, the vibe… It's just more Persona 5.

The one issue here, of course, is that I've rarely found Musou games enormously engaging for any length of time, so while this is very good, it doesn't hold my full attention in the same way as persona 5 itself did, and I suspect I will be playing it for some time.

Returnal - I have finally gone back. Again. I am so close to getting to the end of the second world, where I am certain I will get a grappling hook-type arrangement that will open the game up further. Unfortunately I am still not quite over my mental block, and will randomly bottle runs for no good reason. I am so close. I will get there. It is so good.

Sektori - I have a nasty habit of double-dipping on shmups and arcade-style games, so the Switch 2 release of this triggered a bit of a renaissance for me. As with most games of this ilk, I am not very good at it, but it is a fabulous game nonetheless, and I hope to continue to improve.

The aforementioned shmups - my bonus came, and much of it went into savings (boring), but I then also spent a fair bit feeding my burgeoning shmup (and other assorted arcade-style game) habit, partially enabled by sales that meant a lot of them were priced a lot more palatably than normal. Add in that you can get millions of the buggers downloaded at once, thanks to the meagre file sizes, and I was away…

On that basis I have been dabbling with Mushihimesama, Dodonpachi, Akai Katana Shin, Sophstar, several Cotton and Darius games, and so many more. I'm also still playing Crimzon Clover World EXplosion, which has been a favourite since becoming one of my first Switch purchases many years ago, and ESP Ra. De., which I picked up in Japan last year. I even loaded up Ikaruga for the first time in years.

I'm still terrible at all of these, of course, but I really enjoy them.

I've also tried to start Pokemon FireRed, but only managed a couple of hours in the last month, and am in a similar position with Advance Wars Reloaded. They haven't really fit into my gaming schedule properly yet, as much as I'm enjoying what little I've played, but they've been sidelined a bit by the above, and my ongoing Picross addiction.

Basically, I may be spreading myself a bit too thin at the moment, gaming-wise, but I am enjoying myself, so fuck it.

Want

There are a few things I could mention here - GTAVI (because I won't be able to resist the hype), 007 First Light (because IOI), Saros (because Housemarque) and Forza Horizon 6 (because Japan), but I'm not really desperate for any of them. A sentiment that is I suppose lent credibility by the fact one is already out, and I haven't bought it/finished it's predecessor, I suppose. Another doesn't have a release date on my platform of choice, so I won't be swept away by the hype there either.

My issue with most of the above is that I'm not really vibing with many (non-indie) Western games these days. I'm sure I'll enjoy some of them, but I'm more interested in my backlog than most of the Western releases I've seen announced.

On which note, I do think Adventures of Elliot and Onimusha look really good, and I'm also seemingly less down on the "new" Star Fox game than most, so I'm looking forward to that. Really looking forward to Rhythmn Paradise Groove too. Oh! Stranger Than Heaven! I really need to get back on the Yakuza/Like a Dragon train…

Bin

There to be less real-life stuff to reference here every month, or at least there to be a light at the end of the tunnel, please.

Picross S+
Holedown
Luck Be a Landlord
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Ball x Pit
Resident Evil
Resident Evil 4
Mariokart World
Alan Wake
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana
Ridge Racer
Rave Racer
Burnout Paradise
I Am Your Beast
Nothing Door

Fashion Police Squad

I will try and at least semi-focus on Persona 5 Strikers again now. Probably.

Fashion Police Squad is an FPS (geddit!) that I randomly heard of recently on a podcast, bought for cheap, played and then finished, all in the space of 1-2 weeks. It is a "boomer shooter" that satirises many of the genres tropes, with maybe one person dies throughout the entire (5 hour or so) playtime, as you switch between your arsenal of "weapons" to correct fashion crimes; a paints gun jazzes up people in corporate grey, or extracts colour from people whose clothes are too bright; a water gun shrinks ill-fitting suits; your melee weapon, which is of course a belt, lifts the trousers of the baggy-panted enemies who vape at you, and so on…

It's pretty great. Plays nicely, evokes memories of some of the best stuff in the genre even as it playfully mocks it, and knows when to end even, while giving you plenty of other stuff to do if you so choose. There's a bit too much platforming, which for me is generally a cardinal sin in an FPS, and it's nothing ground-breaking, but I liked it a lot.

Picross S+
Holedown
Luck Be a Landlord
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Ball x Pit
Resident Evil
Resident Evil 4
Mariokart World
Alan Wake
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana
Ridge Racer
Rave Racer
Burnout Paradise

I Am Your Beast
Nothing Door

Two short ones to add.

I Am Your Beast is an interesting one. A surprisingly strong narrative thread runs through it, making it feel a bit like the mutant offspring of Firewatch and Hotline Miami, all indie sensibilities and ultraviolence; the first walking very fast simulator.

Nothing Door is a 1-bit-style puzzle game which I think is free on the App Store (and available elsewhere too). It can be finished in a sitting, and I really liked it.

I’ve never played a Forza, having not had an XBOX since the 360, but ‘the one in Japan’ does look tempting…