@RhodieNite
I dunno if real life vehicle maintenance would be a very fun feature, and might slow down the game’s pace. Plus, that heat system idea might be as badly taken as the hated “random trip” feature in SSB Brawl, (which was meant to nerf “cheap/expert” players too, though unfortunately it bit back on beginner players too) as limiting something that players previously had no limit on might be poorly accepted. Also, hackers/cheaters might find a way to bypass that, and cheat in online races.
Speaking of which, I was actually surprised to learn awhle ago that “Excitebike” was actually created by Shigeru Miyamoto. (While oddly the Mario Kart series wasn’t, though he’s a producer.) In fact, Excitebike was one of the first sidescrollers on the NES/Famicom predating even SMB. (And famously one of the first games to feature a custom level feature.)
There was even a Super Famicom remake in Japan that featured Mario characters. (Never came out here, due to being released during the N64 era.)