I'm not experienced in driving games but the presentation is fantastic! I wish the Ghostbusters game on NES looked half as good as this!
Gameplay wise, the gas makes it frustratingly difficult. I have yet to get past 3 curses after dozens of attempts. Often times, even if I slowed to a halt and tried to inch up slowly to the thing, it would act like I hit it and then not let me get any gas. Very frustrating, because it basically means the run is over then and there since I know I won't survive to the next gas station. There also seems to be no way to pull out of a gas station without just running into it, I think it would have worked best as a large pitstop you run through. I did really like that the game punishes you for not slowing down in time though, I wouldn't want to remove that element.
I also think a lot more warning would be helpful: Maybe adding road signs like "Gas Station in 100 Miles" or something, and then adding a "distance traveled" meter to the UI.
There was also a little talk about it in the Discord, the ghosts are already hard to catch so mapping it to the Select button requires difficult hand positions). But I can pretend I'm playing it with an NES advantage or smth
The actual implementation of all the driving elements though is very impressive, having parallax and hills are crazy work and I think you really nailed it. Shifting is fun too, everything feels and looks great.
Overall awesome entry!
and great music too ;)