I've noticed that, while trying to drift, (my new favorite drift car is the green Vivace Rally config) the gears don't automatically shift down when you reach lower speeds. It makes drifting in this game extremely difficult on keyboard, and not everyone can afford a rig. I think that there should be an arcade - drift mode, where, when your wheels start spinning and you drop in speed, you automatically shift down accordingly. I know that's not how it works in real life, but it's called Arcade shifting because, its just for the convenience of the player. I cannot make quick enough movements to shift down while I'm spinning, and, by the time I shifted down, I've crashed into a wall, where, if the gear had been lower, I could've done a sick drift and avoided said wall altogether. In the video showcasing the Cherrier Vivace released by BeamNG, it showed some other cars leading behind a Vivace racing config, which, would suggest there is AI that you can race. But its not in the game. I would love if there was scenarios/just adding the racing AI option to the traffic app, so you could spawn multiple vehicles at once and just play.
The problem with your shifting suggestion is that then you'll also get the shifting down during braking with locked wheels which will then blow up your engine the moment you release the brakes again...