Standard Rock Paper Scissors runs best-of-three or best-of-five in competitive contexts. Race formats change the pressure structure: you're accumulating wins against a target number, and both players are racing to it simultaneously. A tie game late in a race has different strategic implications than a tied best-of-five because the end of the race keeps moving forward.
The interesting competitive question in race format is when to deviate from your calibrated pattern. In a standard best-of-five, pattern management over five throws is the entire game. In a race to ten, you have more throws to work with, which means your early pattern is more exploitable but your read of the opponent can also go deeper before it matters. You have time to let them establish tendencies before you start countering.
Race format also introduces the question of lead management. Playing with a two-win lead means your opponent is under more pressure to deviate from their comfortable throws, which changes what you expect from them. Playing behind means you need to accelerate, which can push you into more predictable patterns.
The WRPSA's Race game is available in multiple speed configurations. The slower formats are useful for developing pattern management. The faster formats develop the specific skill of maintaining decision quality under compressed time pressure, which is different from the concentrated pressure of a single high-stakes throw.