Well, to be honest, I'm also not a big fan of an upgrading system. But in F1 games, you have a R&D section where you can improve your car a little bit. But it is only available in the career mode. Stats remain the same in single race and online modes.

So it would be cool in a career mode to have it. And for example, ships in career could have lower stats than they have in racebox and online, and once you fully upgraded your ship in the career, it has actually the stats it should have...