I played the latest VDrift release, but not for long. You see, I'm representative of your average gamer - I haven't a clue how to drift.
Most people looking at VDrift are looking for a racing game. The fact it's geared around drifting is coincidental.
So, when I go to turn corners and fly off the road every single time, it's not long before I'm leaving VDrift for another game.
My suggestion: do not make VDrift "yet another racing game" but remember the new player; cater to them first because an experienced player or somebody who knows about drifting will be able to quickly find that. The new player, who wants to just race, will find it harder going to sort out a basic arcade racing mode.
So, I suggest you have different game types with different default set ups. Have an introduction to drifting, give rewards for completing drift-based races, but at the most basic level keep it really simple for us simple people who have not yet discovered the joy of drifting.
Start game -> Quick Race -> Arcade -> FUN
(In my opinion, the greatest challenge of any open source game is player retention. In general, the more players that play the game, the bigger the community, the more successful the project becomes. First time players lose interest _very_ quickly. Once interest is attained, people tend to stick around, even if they have to learn new things.)
