I think doing this type of work makes you really respect the game devs that pioneered the genre. a lot of little things matter in terms of making it feel right, whether you're going for realistic or more arcade like.

for my version I leaned arcade: during the race you can jump higher, it gives in game direction hints, and the whole track has a ribbon on it so it's obvious where to go. however, every hour the track changes to a different stretch of Philly roads and it can definitely highlight your point.

The art direction and sense of scale are important, and successful games seem to be quite good at tricking you into thinking the visual scope is bigger than it is, while the smaller/tighter areas are easier to navigate in-game. The real world is surprisingly huge.

(I don't want to spam my game but you can find it in my recent comment history)