Well, I managed to get myself back into the game, and made some changes that have considerably improved my experience and enjoyment.
First, I cleaned up the HUD (bye bye speedometer and other readings) to have the cockpit/dashboard views as clean as possible, I now rely only on the information on the dashboard itself and engine sounds for gear changes.
Second, I switched TVs since the game looks rather overexposed in my OLED LG C1. For that, I moved the Series X to my bedroom TV, a Sony X85K 4K display that has gaming features, and also changed the visual setting to Performance only (no RT) and IMO the car models and tracks do look cleaner that way.
Third, I have gained appreciation for using ballast to balance some of my cars, and this really helped to tame the McLaren Sabre whose light front was really having a hard time in Maple Valley. Shedding and rebalancing weight distribution has become my go-to building/tuning options, followed by putting the anti-dive/anti-squat values as close to 0 as possible and adjusting front and rear camber values, and that's that.