The distance is irrelevant.. It is true that depending on the car you may gain time breaking and accelerating while turning.
But that is a more subtle and advanced concept though (like dealing with elevation changes).. People should understand the big circle first.
In the context of winning a race you need to get the subtle and advanced concepts right or you will be in last place. If you are just driving on the street it doesn't matter.
Most times Ive seen anyone playing a racing game they seem to be totally clueless.. They dont even comprehend the big circle. They always go into corners way too fast, break super hard and then crawl out.
Its so common it surprises me racing games have always been so popular.
What I have also noticed is that over time racing games have changed their physics to be totally wacky in order to meet the general public's wacky expectations.. (eg. mario kart or GTA5) I cant play those games cus the physics are so strange.
I was referring to real world races where we cannot ignore physics.
Racing games are very different. They tend to have adaptive AI - you are more likely to win with the naive approach you describe than the physically perfect route. The physically perfect result will get your through the race several minutes faster, but the AI opponents become impossible to beat. Thus the ideal path is the worst thing you can learn. (I haven't played games in years, but IIRC the games you mention don't pretend to be about racing, I wonder how ones that pretend to be a real race compare)
?? I guess you havent played modern racing games. No-one races against AI, its all against other people. Games like Assetto Corsa and iRacing have very good physics models. Real race drivers use them to train and are often seen online.
The circle thing is aimed at most people here. If your average person implemented that they would dramatically improve their times.. All the other stuff (of which of course there is a lot) would result in relatively marginal improvements.