It isn't entirely about combat, as we reveal more details that'll be clear. I'm confident it'll still scratch your 'racer' itch as well even though it isn't a traditional racing game.
This is good to hear. I imagine it's hard to balance a racing game no matter what its main focus may be when you have multiple classes of vehicles all with various speeds and sizes and strengths, and I know the rubber banding in motorstorm wasn't loved by many as a means to keep players in the thick of the action, often being called cheap. I personally didn't mind it since it kept races super adrenaline filled and exciting and honestly, I don't mind losing when losing is as fun as motorstorm was...
But I've just never been a big fan of modes in arcade racers that veer away from the core process of winning a race. I enjoy games that incorporate a "by whatever means" type element to that race structure, Whether it's sticking guns on your car (full auto) or power ups (blur/wipeout) or environmental takedowns (split/second) or car combat takedowns (burnout) or multi class/ multi route vehicular mayhem (motorstorm) or even tricks for boost systems (SSX/ freekstyle). But they always ultimately focused on winning the race.
Onrush right now sounds more like some of the trick based modes you'd see in Freekstyle or Pure. I'm sure that's a huge simplification and maybe you have more traditional racing modes in your game to balance out the non traditional aspects? I guess once we see more we'll have a better understanding? I do look forward to seeing more of it though.