Kind of related; I really like Enthusia's bumper camera it had a tinted frame around the edge of the view representing the car and it would move around (I've explained this awfully but can't find any videos), it really gave a good impression of inertia and body movement.
I still think Enthusia is probably one of the most realistic console racers out there and if you haven't played it and own a PS2 you should definitely give it a go (you can probably get a mint copy for under a tenner)
Edit:
I also loved the way Enthusia gave out prize xp/money where it'd give you odds of winning at the beginning and gave you an amount according to that, so you could enter a slow car into a race and gain a fair amount of points without winning.