Hey there Radioavon! I've raced you a few times on 2048. Nice to see you on the zone

That sounds like a lot of micro-managing to me, but the idea of the whole sponsorship thing could still work without it. Instead of managing different pilots with different stats, how about you tie in upgrades with ship loyalty?

Maybe at certain points, a company will "sponsor" you, and when that happens you get a unique upgrade for the ship you are building loyalty with, as well as a new ship skin. This would encourage players to play through each ship, but provide rewards along the way. I do like the RPG elements about using currency to unlock stuff to. So maybe you unlock a prototype ship upgrade by reaching loyalty, but you have to earn the credits to install it. Each company that sponsor might offer a different type of upgrade. Maybe the first upgrade you get with an Icaras for example is a shield boost. Then later a different company has a thrust upgrade.. and so forth. You could upgrade your ship as you see fit to customize, but I also think that there should be a limit (so you can't use every upgrade at once). This way it allows you to customize your ship without overpowering it.

The only drawback would be mulitplayer. It would be unfair to be a beginner without upgrades. So there would have to be something in place to level things for online play.