Story
From the depths of outer space, a large ship zooms in on planet Earth. Its pilot reveals himself as a green alien, looking for a challenge. Using camera devices, he sends a message to Earth, revealing his intentions.

His name is Nitros Oxide, the self-proclaimed fastest racer in the galaxy. His hobby has him travelling through space and challenging racers from different planets. If the local racers lose, they pay the ultimate price by handing over their planet to Oxide, which is then turned into a giant concrete parking lot. It's imperative that Oxide loses, so that he'll leave the planet alone. For veteran racer Nitros Oxide, this is no more than a simple game. For planet Earth, this could bring disaster.

Hearing about this, Crash Bandicoot and his friends (and enemies) accept the challenge, having no other choice. Even Cortex is a part in this- after all, he won't let anyone steal his plans for conquering the World. He was here first. Everyone starts working on their karts, with the intention of saving their home planet (and perhaps enjoy a little fame in the process).

Characters: Crash Bandicoot/Coco Bandicoot/Dr. Neo Cortex/Polar/Pura/Dingodile
Tiny Tiger/N. Gin/Nitros Oxide/Aku Aku/Uka Uka/Dr. N. Tropy/Papu Papu/Pinstripe
Ripper Roo/Komodo Joe/Fake Crash/Penta Penguin/Ami/Isabella/Liz/Megumi

Generalities
Three crate-busting platformers later, it's time for Crash to duke it out with the others in insane kart races. These aren't your average Sunday races from your local kart tracks. These racers will resort to anything to achieve victory, so if that means blowing up your own sister with a homing missile, so be it.

Even though there's a different genre of gameplay going on, everything feels as Crash-like as before. The tracks and the music are heavily inspired by the levels from the original trilogy, and the trademark Crash humour is still there, with characters blowing themselves up with TNTs and teasing each others like idiots.

The gameplay is simple and intuitive, and the more you play the game, the more you realize how deep it really is. Essentially, you can accelerate, break, reverse, jump, powerslide and fire weapons. Weapons are found in Crates, scattered throughout the tracks. You can also power them up by picking up 10 Wumpa Fruits. These are called Juiced Up weapons. Your arsenal is composed of missiles, bowling bombs, explosive Crates, time-slowing clocks, witch doctor masks and more. Being hit or falling off-course doesn't end your race, but you will lose some time. If you want to get anywhere fast, find hidden shortcuts and slide-boost your way to the finish line. Slide-boosting is crucial in this game, so you should try to master it.

Adventure Mode is where you will unlock most stuff, and also where you can play through the story. You'll encounter normal races and other challenges, such as boss races, finding letters, gathering Crystals in arenas and Relic Races (which function like the Time Trials in Crash 3, right down to the time-freezing Crates).

Other modes include Time Trial (where you race alone for the best time in a track), Arcade (composed of single races or cups) and the ever-so-fun Multiplayer modes. You can race against up to 3 of your friends, alone or with AI characters in the mix. This is where CTR really shines, because the Multiplayer gameplay is perfect for anyone looking for mindless fun. You can also challenge your friends in Battle arenas, which can actually surpass the greatness of the race tracks. It's a lot of fun blowing up your friends and setting up traps for them to step into. Needless to say, there is an excellent replay value to be found in CTR.

Controls:
Accelerate- Press the X button or push the right analog stick forward.
Brake- Press the Square button or pull the right analog stick backwards.
Reverse- Press the D-Pad down or pull the right analog stick backwards.
Use weapons- Press the Circle button.
Toggle between the track and speed visors- Press the Triangle button.
Jump- Press the L1 or R1 buttons.
Mirror view- Hold down the L1 or R2 buttons.
Power Slide- Hold down L1 or R1 and push the left analog stick/D-Pad sideways.
Slide-boost- When Power Sliding, press L1 (or R1 if you're holding L1) whenever the smoke from the exhaust pipes turns black (3 times per slide).

Weapons (note: get 10 Wumpa Fruits for juiced up versions):
Missile- engages pursuit on the nearest opponent.
Juiced up: It tracks enemies and avoids collisions better.

Explosive Crate- a TNT crate is dropped behind. Whoever hits it will blow up in a few seconds, unless that person manages to jump enough times to get the Crate off of his/her head.
Juiced up: It turns into a Nitro crate that explodes on contact.

Bowling Bomb- Roll this bomb forward or backwards (pull the left analog stick/D-Pad down). It will detonate once it hits someone or something, or if you decide to press the Circle button again.
Juiced up: Bigger blast radius.

N. Brio's beacon: a beacon with green liquid is left behind. Anyone who hits it will spin uncontrollably.
Juiced up: a beacon with red liquid is used instead. After spinning, the person who hit it will temporarily have a rainy cloud over his/her head, making the kart go slower and disabling the use of weapons.

N. Tropy's Clock: Time temporarily slows down for everyone except the person who uses it. The opponents will also undergo an uncontrollable spin at first.
Juiced up: The effect lasts longer.

Turbo Boost- An extra boost for the go. You can run over opponents by boosting right into them.
Juiced up: The boost lasts longer.

Shield- A green shield appears around the character, enabling the player to suffer 1 hit point without inflicting damage. Anyone who touches the character will get bumped high into the air, but the shield will disappear. If the Circle button is pressed, the shield will be sent forward like a projectile. The shield wears off with time.
Juiced up: The shield becomes blue and won't wear off with time.

Aku Aku/Uka Uka mask: You'll be invincible for a short time, and any contact with the opponents bump them high into the air.
Juiced up: The effect lasts longer.

Warp Sphere- The Warp Sphere automatically locks on the person who is in first place, and will indefinitely hit him sooner or later, as it can hit anyone on its way without being destroyed.
Juiced up: The Warp Sphere will now attack everyone in front of you.

Invisibility (Battle Mode only): you'll be temporarily invisible to opponents, but you can still see your own kart wheels.
Juiced up: The effect lasts longer.

Turbo engine (Battle Mode only): You'll get an extremely long speed boost, but you can't run over opponents. It will work even after braking.
Juiced up: The boost lasts even longer.

Game Modes:
Adventure- The main story, and where you unlock most stuff (single player only).

Arcade- Choose a track or cup to compete against other characters (single and multiplayer).

VS- Play in a track or cup against human players only (multiplayer only)

Battle- Blast your opponents in closed arenas (multiplayer only)

Time Trial- Race freely through any of the available tracks to get the best time, with no opponents or power-ups. You can save your ghosts in the Memory Card (2 blocks for each ghost), and if you're fast enough, you'll unlock N. Tropy's ghost for that track. If you can beat that, you'll get to race against N. Oxide's ghost.