>>527125193
>>527124972
>Sonic R released at a time where in the classic games Knuckles and Tails ran as fast as him for gameplay reasons, but nowadays, Sega is pretty clear about them not being as fast as Sonic. Even if In something like dream team they still are, that's still just a gameplay thing; If the point is a co.petition of speed, it wouldn't make sense for Sonic to not just blow the competition out of the water
R sort of touched on this as certain characters definitely had better speed stats than others, however this was attempted to be compensated for by giving characters abilities such as Amy's car being very slow but having the ability to hover over water to take advantage of course shortcuts. I'd envision more of that in a modern game so slower power characters like Omega or Big would be able to bust open walls to gain access to alternate shorter paths and characters like Cream/Rouge can fly over certain environmental hazards/gaps that other characters couldn't. Knuckles could climb up platforms to reach areas others couldn't etc. So despite being a footrace: character stats, platforming skill, and course strategy would play a larger role than base speed. Collecting Rings along the way (with large treasure troves of them in out of the way detours) to add to the player's base speed multiple and not taking damage to preserve would also be a way to add to the game balance.