I suddenly want a futuristic racing game just as much about CREATING the anti-grav ships you race in as it is about racing them.
In Phase 1, you have a sort of tech tree thing you put money in, and it spits out possible components. Let's say I get a bunch of parts I like, and put them together into a ship. The first racing season plays out, and my ship gets an overall standing of 3rd. Things I did before the first tournament are now able to grow even further, while things I skimped on may have a little trouble maturing at the rate of other companies. I'm getting money from people who like my ship and like the idea of advertising on it. Money means more designs. More designs means better performance. You get the picture.
This goes on, and on, and on. I keep developing for tournaments, etc, etc. When the last tournament ends, I'm given my placement and that stage of gameplay is over.
However, that was just worldgen. I could have set my difficulty, or chosen multiplayer (takes other people's results and pits them against mine rather than simulating the other companies), and either way, resulted in the finished product.
And now, it's time to race. You'll now race using your, or any company's resulting ship, in each era of racing that was simulated in the "worldgen". You're racing your ships, potentially against the ships straight from someone else's mind.
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And now, imagine that the parts function less to change only performance and looks. Imagine that you're in a simulated physics engine, and each ship can be constructed in many more ways. Sure, you might have a thin-framed reverse wing ship, but now you can fiddle with placements, and the entire craft is truly yours.
And afterwards, you're gonna have to prove it. Racing against the ships that someone you don't even know made- learning things, getting better at design, and truly playing on both sides of the field.