In that case, maybe make the mystery car drop a level 7 or 8 car; this way it’s not the fastest nor the slowest car in the Eliminator. Have “flash” car drops. These would be level 7-10 cars that appear for 60 seconds and then disappear if not taken. A notification would pop up alerting players to the imminent arrival of a “flash” drop.
There is no set patterns for drops. But drops have specific spots. Try starting near landmarks. Some drops occasionally appear in open fields, but most will be near important areas or objects. I have a spot where there are 5 potential spawn points within eye shot. And then I have a couple of routes I run with some known spawn points.
Isn’t the finish line in the eliminator supposed to be towards the center of the ring every time you start a head-to-head? It used to be that way but then after some patch, it became impossible to predict. Especially as the game comes towards the ending phase the finish line can appear just 800 meters to the left while I’m already driving towards the center at full speed and my opponento0H1.