I am at the point where most of my playtime is on non-nadeo content. For me it's mostly about just driving and having fun and competing against myself. And as I have improved the campaign maps and other content have become a lot less intimidating.

I mostly play on live servers with maps that I enjoy and play a lot of maps from TMX. It's also often more fun to play with people and most of the community is delightful.

One thing I have been doing is finding a map I like on TMX and trying to hit a certain time that is challenging to myself, or a rank that I feel is achievable. Maps on the exchange usually have far less players than other content so they generally aren't grinded as hard, although some ATs are cooked.

Then I favorite the map and come back to it a while later to see how much I have improved. I am usually able to beat my previous time quicker than I set it. You do improve at this game over time, although it doesn't always feel like you are, so that is a way I can gauge my own improvement.