So far that's the longest description of a new Sonic that I've seen.
I never quite understood the hatred (ok, IGN's hatred) over the Cruis'n USA series. Yeah, the Cruis'n racing games are shallow and I have a theory that you'd have to be an actual race car driver to ever get 1st place in any arcade racing game (either that or there's some hidden nitro function in the game I'm not aware of), but at least you could get 10, maybe 15 minutes of enjoyment out of racing around. And I liked a few of Cruis'n USA's songs, particularly the Redwood whatever track. All I'm trying to say is, IGN claims Cruis'n is one of the worst racing game series out there, but I don't think it's bottom of the barrel material. Archaic yes, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole yeah, but not eye-gougingly bad.
I recently took a look at Rally Challenge 2000 for N64 again. Terrible game, but in that "so bad it's good" category. I like the pathetic announcer ("EA-sy right!!", "Caution!" when going over mud or a small bump, and the opening saying "3... 2... 1... GO! Go go go!" He actually says go go go!) and the surprisingly rockin' music when selecting cars in two-player mode.