Hi Guys, nice to see you made it over ;-}
I completely forgot about '
boundaries'...
Please don't make it so you have to stay on the track.
As chilli mentioned, Free Roam.
Far too many driving games either force you to stay on the track with guardrails and such, or if you stray off it picks you up and drops you back on the 'road'.
Shortcut's can be a double edged sword.
Provided they are difficult enough and your driving skill, you can shave time or really blow it and loose time.
Here is a good example of shortcuts, as well as player screen options.
This is Bayou Flats in Evo 2.
A multi-lap checkpoint track.
As you approach checkpoint 1 the Map shows the road bending to the left, then going around in a U to meet checkpoint 2, while the big green pointer always points to the next checkpoint, not the road path.
With the right speed and direction right after clearing checkpoint 1, you can jump onto the back of the boat, and bounce up the other side of the hill right through checkpoint 2 and on your way.
Miss however and you hit the boat or land in the deep water and need to get 'rescued' back in front of checkpoint 1 with no speed and take the long way.
Note that is just a little animated .gif of four in game screenshots, not a replay.
I like to run 1st person view with as little screen clutter as possible.
No hood, no dash, etc.
The ability to toggle all of that really makes it nice so please keep that in mind.