It seems like drag racing must just not have enough “draw” to it, for most game developers… I don’t really know the best way to put it; like there just isn’t enough to it, the fanbase is too small, something like that. Same for why we don’t see any Air Racing games, or any America’s Cup games—and, like with you and drag racing, I would absolutely love to see games for both the air and sea! Developers don’t even consider these different sports, “not enough exposure…” “Nobody would buy it…” “Too much cost for not enough benefit…” I’m not sure any of those things would be right, however. I think they would be pleasantly surprised, if they were to pour in enough effort to get such things done right, and expose those things to the gaming world…
The only console game I’ve seen lately that looks like it even tried to half-way do drag racing was, and bare with me here; The Crew. That game does do a sort of upgrade path like you’re talking about, with different upgrades and builds per discipline…but that’s as far it seems to go. The only reason why I mention it is because of those slight points; the inclusion of drag, and the differing discipline-based upgrades…
As far as I’m concerned, I’m with you, 100%; drag and drift do both need to see more fleshing out in Forza. Body kits, tunable boost(which should be functional outside of drag and drift, as well), more detailed tire options…
I’d lobby for greater fleshing-out of GP/F1 and other disciplines/series that would require certain unique control/modeling work as well. Anyone who watches an F1, F2, Indy, or other similar race will hear remarks about “DRS”, “KERS”, “Push to Pass”, and also changing of engine mapping(lean to rich at the push of a few buttons!)… Despite the fact that we now have Indy and at least one modern F1 machine in the field (or is it the private customer track day play toy, and not the real F1 machine?), we still don’t have these functions… Likewise, we get one single example of a racing semi…these things have seen at least one other racing game, which DID model the water-cooled brake mechanic, but we don’t get that here. Hell, even the all-electric and other hybrid machines various functional mechanics need fleshing out.
Forza has a ways to go, yet, and we can only hope they know just how to branch out every which way effectively…