A lot of my students try to make race-games in Unity. I guess, you don't need too much programming to get some action. And there is quite a good tutorial out there. So, I encourage the effort. 



I wanted to know how tough it actually was, and tried it myself, too. It worked; quite well. I did spend some time on making a good car. My son choose the color. Creating a complete environment took a bit too much time. (I thought I could make all assets myself, in a week, after work. Well...)