I was thinking recently how neat it would be to see a prototype race using BeamNG. Since aerodynamics, suspension, and other components are simulated, instead of hard coded into the game it would be awesome to have several "teams" design cars within certain parameters and have a race to see who can build the best car. Perhaps tires and drive train would need to be the same for all cars and wheelbase, length, width, height, and "materials" would have set limits. This would work best with multiplayer, but even time trials on a set track could work if multiplayer never happens. Nothing I'm trying to make happen, just an idea I wanted to share. Maybe one day.
This sounds pretty cool. And by the way, I also had a possible multiplayer idea, it would obviously need to take place when there is a much more diverse range of parts available for each vehicle. Two teams will be given a certain amount of spendable income, and a deadline for a vehicle with a set range of parameters. They will need to find out the best way to get the most bang for their buck by choosing from the wide selection of different parts that is available. Each part, based on quality, performance, brand etc will be priced differently. When the two teams have chosen what they think is the best mix of parts, and configured their vehicle, they use it to compete with other teams in various races.
That would be cool, having choices of different cars to choose from and various sets of parts and upgrades available for your car, but something else I would like to add: in the race, you could get sponsors (ie: Gripall, Nomi, etc) that would discount certain parts that you buy for your car, and giving you different amounts of cash when you win a race... Example: You could get Gripall to sponsor you, you would get discounts on tires for your car, when you win a race, you get, let's say, 1000 dollar bonus from your Sponsor, You could also get a sponsorship from Nomi, which would give you discounts on engine parts or whatever Nomi does... When you win a race, you could get a 500 dollar bonus from your sponsor Or a sponsorship from Dreid, who gives you discounts on Suspension parts or whatever, and when you win a race, you get a 750 dollar bonus from your sponsor But let's say that Dreid also wants to sponsor you, but doesn't want Nomi to sponsor you due to rivalries, you would have to choose between the two companies and decide which gives you a better advantage... But then, you could also get sponsorships from car companies (ie: Gavril, Hirochi, etc) that give you a discount when buying a car, but these wouldn't give a bonus. But, you would need a lot of reputation to earn these discounts, without the reputation, these companies might turn you down... So yeah, that's something that could be cool in a race campaign thing or whatever...
Also, if you lose a race, taking what @Car8john said, the sponsor asks for, let's say, 200 or $350. If you don't have the money (For some reason), then you would have to win races without the sponsor or do illegal races for money. Then you have enough money and you'll be able to do the race again with your sponsor.
My original idea was for completely custom made car models, but these ideas work as well. I still like the idea of completely designing the car in Blender from the ground up, but for people who aren't well versed in 3D modeling, building from parts could work out better.