I've been made aware of this remake and I'm going to comment on it from a perspective of updating the main game for the 2.0. It's easier for me to pick on issues than to notice all the small things that were wrong before and have been improved. Some of the issues existed in the original and are simply stated here as further improvements.
- I appreciate the design choice of adding land mass to the left of the starting line, it makes the island less tiny.
- The vegetation (changed trees and new trees) is very much improved over the original. That must have been a lot of work, but the result is great.
- The vegetation moving with the wind is cool too.
- I appreciate the ground zipper when entering the underground area, it speeds up a bit the track.
- I don't appreciate so much the zipper on the jump as it completely bypasses the small track area with water and the section going back up. It does solve the infinite-respawn AI bug though and a speed boost adds its fun. What about reducing the zipper's power (this can be configured in the track's files, GP Island has a custom ground zipper strength for example) and slightly redesigning the ground to extend the underwater/going up area? The steepness of the "going up" area can be reduced somewhat compared to the original to avoid the very rare cases of the kart losing meaningful speed on landing.
- The heat-deformation effects above the lava are great.
- The lava itself is better looking. The rocky areas with fumes/lava sparks in the middle of molten lava are a bit strange however. Some darker spots on the surface from lava cooling down could be visually interesting, too.
- I notice the lava levels have been reduced a bit compared to the original. That's good but I have a few nitpicks. The tires go onto the lava as if it was solid and there is a noticeable margin (about half Gavroche's width) between touching the lava and the auto-rescue. The transition between the lava lakes and the stone blocks is perfect straight lines. Irregular spots of solidified lava on the road rock along the transition border would be interesting.
- To some degree that's a weakness of STK as a whole, but I'm thinking a sound effect when touching lava and getting rescued would make this a lot more lively. We are far from having per-kart "it hurts" sounds however and one sound for everyone may not feel right.
- Performance-wise, I'm losing a few FPS compared to the original but it's not that much. It doesn't appear to be too demanding compared to STK's most demanding tracks.
- The white lines on the border of the road have not changed from the original. This means they still suffer from having abrupt angle in curves instead of being smoother.
- For the most part, the rock near the track is the same as it is in the original, with the clear straight lines on the place it joins the ground and the smooth surfaces.
- It's possible to drive underwater on the coastline. There is no splash effect when entering water, the rescue plane is located too far away from the shoreline and the particle dust effect of driving on sand continue to be displayed when underwater.
- I don't like the additional banana in the middle of the crossroad soon after the start, you can only see it very shortly before reaching this area. This area is already tricky after the start when there are many karts and they don't pick the same path.
- I don't like the new sets of banana during the first long turn for the same reason (late visibility). The 1.0 bananas on the track were placed on purpose in locations where you have a bit of time to see them even if you don't know the track by heart. It's also arguable that it's more fun to pick up powerups than to eat a banana, so bananas should be used sparingly within a track.
- There are red light effects at the very end of the tunnel. I guess it's the torches burning just outside while the sun is shining, but I find it strange-looking, especially as only within-the-tunnel rocks look like they reflect this light.
- The grass road transition could be made to look more natural
- The road and sand textures are stille the old ones who unfortunately lack some quality and get blurry up close even at medium resolutions. I know finding good quality replacement textures is not easy but I'm still putting it in the list.
- I'm not too hot about the new rocks on the track. Gameplay wise, I don't feel it adds very much. More importantly, stylistically I think it's not consistent. On Volcano Island, the road appears to be well taken care of, with good asphalt, no potholes and so on. The random rocks on the road don't look like the result of a recent volcanic event and appear inconsistent with the general state of good road quality.
- The Wilbert on the side of the road with the "security" vest is gigantic compared to the kart character, there is a proportion issue.