The main reason to make this game is that I like making variation games. They have never failed to bring up worthwhile considerations and explorations of game design and I don’t see why this one wouldn’t be the same.
The other big reason to make this game is I’m writing a book about exactly this design exercise/structure and it makes a lot of sense to go through it from the ground up while I’m writing because it’ll hopefully be a way to be more deeply in touch with the practicalities and to reveal more about it as an activity.
The fact of it being a three-lane racer at the base is not that important cosmically, but I do think the centrality of cars and driving to human existence may mean that this one is able to register with/relate to more human/cultural/social ideas than a more abstract game form might. This seemed to be born out in the ideas stage where things came up like commuting, pedestrians, getting directions, etc. The car and the act of driving are very powerful, so they are maybe generative in a way that abstractions aren’t. I’d like to think more about that.