A racing game that is unapollogetically a "simcade". Somewhat realistic but mostly casual.
This type of game used to be mainstream until the mid 2000's and I genuinely can't understand why it went away, turning the entire racing genre into a niche for very particular type of enthusiasts.
A simcade would be a racing game that isn't an arcade racer, so no Mario Kart or Destruction Derby, no powerup mechanics, boosts and so on. The gampelay should remind the player of a proper car race: you're faster by following the proper racing line, you overtake by getting into the sleepstream and braking late, your car burns fuel and wears its tyres... But it also wouldn't be a simulator like most modern mainstream games are. It should prioritize being a fun game over replicating every detail of driving physics.
The focus should be put into single player content, something that is ignored by most modern sims (except for Gran Turismo, which suffers from an attrocious AI). It would contain a career mode where different teams/manufacturers would contact the player to race for them in different series each with its own selection of tracks/layouts and cars. The player could receive a salary from their team that they could use to buy and unlock stuff for other game modes or special events.
Multiplayer can exist but not in the hyper-competitve scene of simracing. It should be something like being able to call a friend to play as your teammate in a series of the career mode.
Also importantly, the game should have a proper damage model. Most racing games refuse to implement it because manufacturers of licensed cars don't want to see their cars being wrecked (as if people were idiots and didn't know that a Ferrari would break if you slam it at 300km/h against a wall).