What's great about Mario Kart and then some...
The visuals were awesomely cartoonish, and the stages imaginatively awesome. This is obviously at par with Mario Kart- the best of the mascot racers- and at times even better. There's even the signature press accelerate after 2! Multiplayer is especially awesome, because, of course, it's better to race against humans than AI. But the AI, I think, was not as harsh as Mario Kart though.
If you want some great kart racing fun, Crash Team Racing definitely won't let you down... and it's definitely the closest Mario Kart experience you'll get in the PSX and it'll be perfect for people who love finding great gaming experiences without bumping into Mario every so often.