Thanks for your comments.
I reduced the road width to achieve a better scale, though I agree the cars still feel a bit small. Unfortunately, bigger cars mean larger sprites, adjusting collision boxes, and lower FPS on the Amiga system, but I'll look into it.
The game physics are limited. The engine considers several factors (mainly mass, speed, braking force, and torque), but it’s not a simulator. Overhauling the physics would affect many other elements, including the AI cars, which took a lot of time to fine-tune. In any case, I'll see if I can implement some minor changes to improve realism.
Regarding your last point, perhaps I haven't tested it enough on a real Amiga with a joystick. I usually develop on Linux and use Amiberry for testing. The logic is there, and keyboards/joysticks should trigger the same animations, so this should be an easy fix.