I wish the same thing (but won't hold my breath!) I've tried the third person mod and it's okay, but fairly janky.

Why did they spend all that time making character customisation, for you to barely even see it during gameplay?

I get that it probably made the development a lot easier, but it feels so restrictive and is a disappointing aspect of the game for me.

There's a lot of rubbish, glass, small stones etc. on the edge of the road so it's often not a suitable place to ride in.