The mod that got me into modding still has a special place in my heart. It was the Shockwave mod for C&C Generals. Shockwave absolutely could have been vanilla if EA deigned to finish the Zero Hour expansion. It was just pure polished perfection for that game.
Idk about other brands but with Mazda you can call and get them to deactivate your car’s sim. IIRC in Subarus you can just physically unplug the communication unit.