There's a lot of ways you could go with it, but IMO adding diagonals and some more momentum and overall speed would do a ton. Maybe imitate some very old arcade racing games? Maybe look to old arcade games and make it a bit slower to fit the game better. Maybe something like Hot Rod?
On the boost turning, I think some sort of flash of your character or of your exhaust to indicate you can boost would help a lot for those who tend to gloss over tutorials (😅)