After it was briefly mentioned in the Screamer thread I thought I'd give it a try and bought it on PSN.
Am I missing something here? The graphics are OK, but are plagued with many, many clipping bugs, to the point where it really does become irritating.
But that's not the problem: The problem are the tracks. I mean, can ANYBODY enjoy them. It's not just that they're very difficult with narrow parts which are just about as wide as your car or sharp turns. They're simply impossible unless you really learn them by heart.
For example:
There are often objects right in the middle of the road and they're barely visible, like a fountain or a slightly raised part of the road around a tollbooth.
There are many parts where you can decide between two paths and one will lead you straight against a wall (yes, there are always signs somewhere, but when you see them it's already too late to turn)
There are jumps which slam you straight into a wall unless you break hard (and there's no warning at all for those)
I don't mean to be disrespectful, but what kind of drugs were the Gremlin guys taking when they thought that something like this would be fun?

I don't know, I've always loved it, and seen it as one of the most enjoyable arcade racers ever. I've never seen the PSX-version, though. It's been quite long since my last addiction (due to not being able to play it in 3DFX mode any more, I think), but I remember it being very hard - but also very satisfying when you "got it right".
One of the finest games from Digital Illusions, IMO (and they've got _a lot_ of fine games on their record - Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions, Benefactor, Battlefield, Mirror's Edge,...).

I don't know, I liked Ace Of Spades.

You can reduce the amount of computer cars in the options, and the game plays significantly better with 4 AI cars (less draw-in fog). At least that was my experience playing it on a PSP.
I also remember being floored by the graphics on a humble Pentium 133 back in the day, though the learning curve+setting are probably closer to wipeout than screamer.

I prefer Guns N' Roses to Motorhead.

Learn the levels, then? That's half the point of a racing game. I wouldn't describe the difficulty as impossible, though. Sure, you're not going to win races the first time around - but why should you?
Tried the GeForce HUD patch? Works fine for me in D3D mode afterwards, though not sure how well that'd work if you have an Ati/AMD card.