What I'd really like to see is a spoiler-free mode.
I can watch a race on catch-up, but if I'm doing that then I can't open PCS to check profiles or standings/time-gaps until I'm fully caught up
We have that! It is not perfect but is improving. By next season we will have catch-up mode too so you can tune in when you can and get caught up on the major events that got the race to where it is
I grew up in Idaho, so I know well the pains of trying to follow the sport from another timezone
Exactly this.
On top of that, when catching up it's great to have an indication of _when_ to start watching a race. For that I've been using the info provided on the HowFarOut[1] Twitter account.
[1] https://nitter.click/HowFarOut