You should make a mode that if you don’t actively steer and crash into scenery or object you player has to reset and gets a time penalty from doing so.
Also it would be awesome if you could steer into different routes into having to select the direction you want with the arrow keys.
Steering and braking and crashes would be a great way to Make Racing More Exciting™.
It would be able who could not only ride fastest but steer and brake better than others. It would also control the pack speeds a bit better by ensuring riders could not push those ahead out of the draft. They would have to go around the outside, and only overtake if there is room to do so.
This all requires everyone to have precise steering and braking devices.
Actually, even without steering, a rider trying to overtake should never be able to push those ahead out of the draft (which currently does happen). The rider trying to overtake should be forced out of the draft and has to work much harder to overtake. They get it too easy at the moment.