Did you watch the Indy races? More exciting than I expected from just a oval!!
I'm guessing you've not watched much oval racing in real life?
(That's not intended as the somewhat pointed question it sounds like). It's far, far more technical than most expect - much more so in real racing compared to road racing too. Even just watching the tension is something else as even when they look planted you're just a tiny error away for the mother and father of all accidents. Look at Alonso's first Indy 500 race in 2017, where Helio Castroneves drove
underneath the airbourne Scott Dixon, who landed upside down on top of the wall. Oval races particularly still have that buzz and nervousness that F1 had in the late 90s and early 2000s, when the cars were twitching and dancing along straights on fast tracks such as Monza and Hockenheim.
The online race was a bit more mad than it would be in real life (naturally), but equally there was some superb driving. The only drawback for The Race events is the rFactor 2 platform. Iracing would be much better.
Still, they're miles better than the F1 events. And at least have replays now.
Getting Paul Page in for the Indy races was brilliant. Loved listening to his voice in the 90s. He clearly wasn't up to speed with sim-racing and the quirks such events always have, but he still came across as enthusiastic as ever.