I'll preface this by saying I've always been someone who prefers powerful, enduring experiences that make a lasting impact on me. That's why writing has always been a stronger interest for me than gaming.
I'm bored of sims these days as I feel that driving alone does nothing for me. You can't go wrong with a bit of immersion, to feel that you really have something to compete for and not just a bunch of random racers to mess around with. That's not something that the current sims can deliver right now (and honestly, neither should they if it takes away from the simple racing element that others like so much).
Problem is, CM are the only ones who have put any serious effort into this via F1 2017 (no, SMS's system is a joke, and so were those used in Dirt Rally and Dirt 4), and even then, their current system isn't as good as it could or should be. There's no sense of rivalry or competition. Even Ravenwest from their very own GRID games are significantly better for that.
I don't particularly care about licensed series - if anything, without being limited by things like licenses, you can have more freedom to do what you want. Motorsport Manager does a fantastic job of making you care for your drivers no matter if it's a real one or not. If someone else followed that model but also made you care about the other members of your team, as well as those outside your team or who aren't competing at all like the FIA, the stewards or the media, you'd have something close to perfection. It obviously helps if the AI was competent and the handling was acceptable, but to me, those are still only of secondary importance.
Driving by itself is boring and shallow for me, and mere racing is no better. Without that true sense of competition, it doesn't interest me. Leagues and online gaming are not the answer (especially not with how shallow most simracers are), and neither are these cheap attempts at eSports events that seemingly everyone is trying to make these days. Motorsport needs something akin to a long-running story to be worth something in my eyes, and given F1's enduring popularity, I imagine I'm far from alone on this one. Developing something like that in a game while still focusing on the racing element, however, is much easier said than done given the amount of effort required to do so and how much of a risk it would be to develop it in the first place.
how to ruin a racing game:
1. lock all the cars behind a tedious storymode.
2. include cutscenes featuring an oddly proportioned scotsman with skin made out of kebab meat.
And yet he, like the game he was in, is more iconic than just about anything racing itself has ever had to offer. TOCA RD 1 and 2 are exceptionally iconic, and besides his name being partially retconned between the first game and GRID, Nathan McKane is a great, if simple, example of how to write a story in motorsport, and the same goes for Rick Scott, silent as he was, between the second game and GRID. Rick Irving himself may not have been a driver, or even a complex character, but he was remarkably compelling.
The individual stories of the characters in the extended series aren't anything to write home about in terms of literary prowess, but they're there and they add something very valuable to the overall experience. The fact that you then go on to compete against McKane and Scott in GRID and later GRID Autosport is awesome, especially in the latter where their AI behaviors are different from that of any other AI. Even their descriptions in that game match the way most players drove in those games, with McKane in particular referencing how easy it was to pass everyone almost instantly and then block them all the way in 1. They're proper rivals. You know how good they are. You feel something when you race against them, and that's excellent. It's something games like this need more of, not less.
