Race! Formula 90 is a car-racing game simulating all the typical elements of a motor sport event: car strategies, weather changes, pit stops, tire management, overtaking, doubling, and of course damages and crashes.

In Race! every game turn represents one or more laps of the track, and each player is in control of only one car. Other cars, called robots, move automatically on the track fighting between them and the human players. Players are provided with a set of racing cards and a car chart to keep track of all available resources (tires, damages, reliability). By playing racing cards, they move along the track and in so doing they spend resources. Movement can be affected by trajectories on the track, straight, corner and braking sections, opponents and other special events like yellow or blue flags.

Braking sections have a particular feature: here players and robots can try late braking, a dangerous maneuver that allows them to overtake multiple cars simultaneously. Other maneuvers or cards require a "check", e.g., playing a card with a check value lower than a predefined target.

Strategies and driving skills are another key element of the game. Players must exploit these unique capabilities to gain against competitors while adapting their driving style to the actual race conditions. When using a strategy at his best, a player achieves a "special", which allows him to draw a track card, which is usually more powerful than ordinary racing cards.