Always funny to see these kind of discussions on different games. In Race for Life, a lot of people dislike/hate V(eronica) because her and MC have a pre-existing FWB relationship. It's very different case than with Iris, which was a committed relationship but still a pre-existing dynamic. In V's case, she's hoping for a more serious step in the relationship, and asks the MC for such... timing aside. In Iris' case it never really ended, so the MC has essentially been a cheat for years.

And wow, there's a lot of hate for V on that game and a lot of the points made are for that very reason, that it was pre-existing relationship.
There is some potential with the Iris as a character, she just feels way too much like a side girl at this point. All the other LIs are way ahead of her in storytelling, all she really has is the one really long flashback about meeting her. And since you can't really start any sort of relationship with her, in a non-harem game, that really requires being on Lexi's path there's been nothing to take my eye off Lexi by that point. Even Elena is a much more developer character in-game, and you can't even start a relationship with her other than to break Layla's heart for nothing yet.