Might run an All Bronze Festival, as I've completed the game multiple times. Issue it that my PSP's are broken leaving me to PPSSPP, which I should assume should be fine, besides the white being super bright. Just figured I'd put that out here.

Also, I'm going to make the assumption that the run starts when you first start Festival. Correct me if I'm wrong but seeing as this is a dead game with no runs. Kinda hard to be. Oki Bye!

Yes you are right, time starts when you click festival and end at the last race.

Have you tried PCSX 2 to solve the problem of brightness?

No, though I don't believe it'll help. But shouldn't be much an issue till near the end, since it'll mostly be from track memorization, and optimal lines and boosts.

Yes, maybe In Ascension you won't see see much after the twist section

i'll try to speedrun this after i beat this game first casually. but i'll take notes to see where i can see some optimizations and note worthy shortcuts

good to know, let us know what you found =)