The game's story centers on the exploits of the protagonist, Crash Bandicoot, who must win the ownership of a dilapidated theme park by finding its missing Power Gems before his nemesis, Doctor Neo Cortex, can.

[6] Mini-cartoons, called "Die-O-Ramas", can also be unlocked; these cutscenes display Crash being grievously injured or "killed" off in various, and largely humorous ways.

The main antagonist of the series, Doctor Neo Cortex, is a mad scientist who attempts to win the deed to the park and use it for his own evil purposes.

The game introduces two new playable characters: Ebenezer Von Clutch, a deranged German cyborg, is the owner of MotorWorld, and must retrieve his Black Power Gem before he automatically turns off.

Cortex, Coco and Pasadena suspect the true thief has been attempting to sabotage their efforts, noting a trail of Wumpa Whip at the scene of every Power Gem theft.

[17] The story, all new characters and game script/dialogue were created by animation producer and director Jordan Reichek of Perky Pickle Studios.

The full-motion videos were created by Red Eye Studios, who had previously animated the cutscenes for Crash Nitro Kart and Twinsanity.

The new characters Von Clutch, Pasadena and Willie were respectively voiced by Danny Mann, Shanelle Workman and Roger L. Jackson.

[32] Alex Navarro of GameSpot concluded that "the racing isn't exactly the star of the show, but Crash Tag Team Racing's supplemental elements pull the whole thing together into a unique and most enjoyable experience";[27] on the subject of the PSP version, Navarro added that the handheld version's loading times were "painful".

[23] Hector Guzman of GameSpy found the clashing mechanic to be amusing and entertaining, but derided the platforming camera for its "horrific clumsiness".

[32] Charles Onyett of IGN and Ellie Gibson of Eurogamer noted the high degree of detail and extra moving parts in the game's level design, though Gibson noticed that some areas were dimly lit, and Onyett criticized the lower graphical quality of the Die-O-Rama cutscenes compared to the regular gameplay.

[24][30] Navarro appraised the explosive car destruction as "one of the great joys of the game", although he noted some frame-rate drop in the GameCube version.

[29] Castaneda considered the presentation to be passable, elaborating that "The frame-rate is a tad buggy at times, but never during races, so it isn’t much of a bother.

[31] The audio was largely dismissed as unremarkable and forgettable,[27][30][31][32] with the exception of Gibson, who praised the sound effects and music as "great" and "excellent".

Navarro commended the comedic quality of the voice-acting in spite of its occasional obnoxiousness, and singled out the henchmen and "woefully underutilized" chicken commentators as "great fun".

[27] Castaneda was also impressed by the voice-acting, and claimed that the "clever writing and dynamite delivery will definitely make you laugh out loud a couple times".