Projectile physics were one of my favorite points (besides the open environment). You had to be aware of your own motion vector if you wanted to accurately place a shot with most weapons. Sadly, later installments (T:V, I'm looking at you) never quite had that same feeling. That was probably part of what made it relatively unfriendly to newbies from other shooters, but I felt it made the game a bit more intense and required a bit more focus rather than strictly mindless button-mashing.

Didn't they have a weird compromise in terms of projectile physics and the player's motion? I remember reading about it and thinking that doing so would make it harder to use than doing it physically accurately but I forget the details.

Tribes 2 was pretty crap when it came out but the Classic mod gave it much the same feel as Tribes 1. I lost several years to the competitive scene. There were organized competitions as recent as a year or 2 back, and there is still a public server with enough of a population to play at most times.