Fix the physics.

I would be willing to overlook the AI generated crap, the weak animation, the lack of clothing options, etc if the game actually felt anything like skateboarding.

There are truly so many issues with the physics engine; perceived motion, rotations not finishing intuitively like they had in the previous games, being unable to adjust your slide/grind while on the rail/ledge in certain areas, the pop consistently not popping with the intensity you're giving it, held tricks not holding, aim-assist for rails just not doing anything in a lot of cases... It makes even the most genuine attempt at playing so difficult to get through

The balance between how fast my character is actually moving vs the perception of motion is awful, I have so much trouble gauging when to pop appropriately for the tricks I'm being forced to attempt in some of these challenges. Two pushes isn't enough by a long shot, and three pushes doesn't look any faster but makes me completely overshoot the obstacle. Running and throwing down makes me move visibly faster than pushes ever will, but then the pop mechanics at that speed don't make any sense. The gravity is weird, the friction of the wheels on concrete doesn't seem to apply, I shouldn't be able to casually roll up a ramp the size of a 20 stair on two lackluster pushes.

There is entirely too much margin for error allotted for landing while spinning, but not enough given for landing unrealistically high drops. I can't properly balance how fast it APPEARS im going with how fast the game has decided i'm actually going and that makes doing tricks feel boring. I understand you have to scale things up and down in order for them to feel good when done in video game format, but the excitement of doing a kickflip back smith on a 20 stair handrail is lost when you have to approach it at half-of-one-pushes-worth of speed because otherwise you entirely overshoot the rail or don't land on it til the bottom of the stairs. 

Overall the pop mechanic feels awful and inconsistent.  Being set up in a stupid spot that doesn't actually line you up for the challenge at hand is nothing new to the SKATE franchise, but the fact that the pop mechanic is so finicky and makes no intuitive sense makes it nearly impossible to deal with the poor placement because I can't even force the game to assist me into landing in the right spot. The aim assist situation for the rails is terrible, I've NEVER had so much trouble landing on a rail in a skateboarding game in my life. The controls also are weird as hell. Don't ask me if I'm familiar with the skate franchise, give me an option for "OG" controls and then NOT HAVE THEM SET UP LIKE THE ORIGINAL SKATE 3 CONTROLS. The amount of back and forth I've had to do to get the controls to sit correctly on my controller [XB on PC] is ridiculous.

I have spent a lot of time defending the fact that the game is still in early access and not finished, but the core of the game needs to be the physics engine and it's severely lacking in that department. Above all else it should FEEL good to play. It should feel ALMOST like skateboarding. Session and Skater XL went for the full simulation route and it's TOO real. SKATE was born to bring skateboarders a balance between really skateboarding and arcade style games like the Tony Hawk franchise. The halfway point between a simulator and a kiosk. This installment has crossed back over the line into arcade-style territory entirely too much, and without reigning it back in for the actual skateboarders who grew with this franchise, I believe you will continue to have a disproportionate amount of disappointed fans and users with the current product.