i think that’s sort of the whole point. i mean the dev is called Neognosis. though i can definitely see how that could be unsettling if you’re intimately familiar with the franchise, which i am not.
i had the pc version of 2097 as a child and i could never get the hang of it. too technical for a 9-year-old i guess. so i never really had any nostalgia for the specifics, i just saw Ballistic on sale and thought “hey that looks like wipeout, I wonder if they still have that weird floaty feel”. it does feel like i remember, and after spending some time with it i really enjoy it even though i’m still no good 25 years later.
also they did add go-karts so it’s not entirely plagiarized ;)