So why didn't the stock developers include parking lights?

To me it's a no brainer. One can turn on the parking lights (or as my dad used to call them when I was a kid... "the dims") without turning on the headlights in real life, so why not here?
Why is it that one guy had to add a special mod, just do something so obvious, that should have been included with the first release of the game to begin with?

I don't know about you, but I drive with just my parking lights on quite frequently. Between sunset and the end of civil twilight, it's the perfect, logical choice for cruising through town, and looking cool. And not one cop has pulled me over for it yet... so it can't be that illegal. Dims without heads just looks hecka' cool-- always has, always will be.

So why wasn't it included stock in the cycle of the N-key?

[ OFF --> PARKING --> LOW --> HIGH --> OFF].

 

It's genuinely hilarious that the car in your avatar has its headlights on.

 

While they're messing with the lights already they could include a transition between the OFF and ON state as the filament inside the headlight heats up, right now it's as if all cars had LEDs.

 

You’re absolutely right... and I thought about the irony of that after I posted.
Somewhere I have a pic of that car in my driveway at sunset with just the parking lights on... but I was too lazy to change avatars just for this one post!

Well, if nothing else, I took the car through its electric light cycles here:

 

"stock developers"

hell yeah i love me some modded devs

 

You can mod the devs so long as you don’t use their real names!

 

Do you mean side lights? The parking lights aren't used while you're driving, they come on for a short period after you leave the car.

 

The same thing. Latter is just a feature on new cars.

 

I drive a 1970 Ford LTD. Nothing on that car comes on, stays on, and turns off on its own! It's almost 50 years old! I roll up my own windows and push on the door locks to lock the car! I am talking about parking lights.

There are two detentions in the headlight pull knob on the dashboard. First detention lights the front parking lights, sidemarkers, taillights, rear license plate light, and dashboard cluster. Second detention (pulled all the way out) opens the air operated hideaway headlight doors and lights the headlights. Step on the floor with my left foot to light the highbeams. We're talking real old school over here. But hey! She's smog exempt here in California. That's why I drive her. Anything pre-1976, you don't have to smog check in our state. And I can actually get in under the hood and do stuff on my own-- (well... ahem... not exceedingly well mind you... but I can make attempts here and there).