First of all for everyone ootl, hardcore mode is a new difficulty mode that was found in PTS game files, deactivated for now. You can activate and try it via maprunner's save editor. Here's a list of things hardcore mode brings to the game:
• You will have to pay for your fuel & repairs (not in the game);
• You will have to pay for your vehicle deployment (a deployment from Truck Storage cost general payment penalties);
• You will have to pay for your vehicle recovery (general payment penalties);
• You will have to pay every time you load cargo automatically ($100 per cargo);
• You will not be able to sell your trailers and semies;
• You will sell your trucks and equipment for half it's price;
• Contest will be restricted in the number of tries you make;
• You will have to search for the facilities with the cargo you need by yourself (this probably means that map won't show you a warehouse if the watchtower that covers it wasn't unlocked);
• You will not be able to skip time
(General payment penalties for vehicles depending on their type: Scout - $250; Highway - $500; Offroad/Heavy Duty - $1000; Heavy - $2000)
Problem №1: Game throws money at you like it's nothing
I've completed the game without ever selling a trailer back(!) while for the first 50 hours not even knowing you can sell upgrades, and right now I'm on the $2kk (with my vehicles worth another $700k). And that's with me experimenting a bit here and there and losing money I could've not lost. Right now we're all familiar with the game, we know what things to do first, which trucks and upgrades to buy, which routs to take and the best way to use money.
At their best, the current payment restrictions will make you to be careful for the first 3-5 hours, before you'll earn your first $50k-buffer from selling all the vehicles you can get right from the start and you won't run out of money ever again. And don't forget that some people have DLC trucks to sell. The Navistar truck (a pre-order bonus) costs $140k, that's literally starting a new game with +$70k and basically nullifying all money restrictions.
In conclusion, the economy system in this game is enormously unbalanced and always favors the player. It wasn't a big problem in the base game because real limitations came from the ranking system, where various vehicles and upgrades were locked until you actually did some in-game progression. But when you're making 2/3 of the restrictions based off a broken system those restrictions are gonna be broken too.
Problem №2: There's a workaround for most of the restrictions
The more fundamental problem with the hardcore mode that it doesn't make the game more interesting, only more tedious. Let's look at the "paying for vehicle deployment"-feature from the game design perspective and how it impacts the gameplay.
Firstly, this penalty can be avoided most of the time by just driving your trucks to the a different garage. Now is that an exciting addition to a Snowrunner gameplay, driving on an asphalt road with no challenge? Secondly, it locks you in one region until you're done with it, which means no change of scenery until you do all the contracts (it's not a gameplay necessity, but rather an aesthetic one - spending 20+ hours in one region will probably bore the hell out of you). And btw it's still won't stop you from going to Taymyr and buying that OP Azov in the early game.
Let's analyze another one, manual cargo loading. Is being forced to manually load cargo challenging? It can be, but only when you're dealing with a big 4-slot cargo like a large pipe, because now you need to bring an additional truck to crane it (which you didn't before). So 95% of the time you just gonna be doing manual loading for light cargo (which you won't btw cos cash is endless) and when it'll come to those "gameplay-changing" loads you'll just do it automatically.
Problem №3: Finding the fun
Let's open this can of worms and think about what makes a fun Snowrunner experience. Not for the new players. For those, who already have beaten the game, who knows it's every nook and cranny, for whom the game poses no real challenge anymore like it use to.
The fun is getting a player out of his comfort zone, forcing him to try things he haven't tried before (because there was always an easier solution), forcing player to play in a new way while completely removing that easier solution he was always going for (yes, removing it, not making him pay for it with endless in-game money). For example, turning off manual cargo for >=2-slot cargo. Turning off recoveries (or limiting them to something like 3 per region), so the player had more chances to interact with more challenging environment.
Revisiting restrictions
Let's go over that early list and see what those restrictions actually bring to the game and how they will impact the gameplay
• You will have to pay for your vehicle deployment
Virtually meaningless since you have tons of cash. Brings less region changing (which poses no challenge) and more garage-to-garage asphalt driving (which poses no challenge)
• You will have to pay for your fuel & repairs
• You will have to pay for your vehicle recovery
• You will not be able to sell your trailers and semies
• You will sell your trucks and equipment for half it's price
Virtually meaningless since you have tons of cash
• You will have to pay every time you load cargo automatically (100$ per cargo);
Virtually meaningless since you have tons of cash and can be avoided by manual loading (which poses no challenge)
• Contest will be restricted in the number of tries you make;
A fine addition in itself, tho really hard contests are rare and you still won't fail them unless you crash
• You will have to search for the facilities with the cargo you need by yourself
Virtually meaningless since you'll be doing watchtowers first anyways and/or you already know where all the warehouses are
• You will not be able to skip time
This is a one and only good addition which will force players to pick tacks/contracts and routes(!) depending on the time of day (I mean you can find a way to sort of cheese this too, but still not to the full extent)
Conclusion
Let me make this clear, I don't have a personal vision of a "perfect" hardcore mode in my head that will please only me. I don't have a specific list of features I want devs to implement. Even tho impact is minimal, half of the current restrictions are fine on their own, it's just not enough to make it worth a second playthrough where everything will literally be the same for the 95% of the time.
Make restrictions that will force player to experience parts of gameplay they haven't fully experience yet due to the obvious easy solutions. Take those solutions away, make the players try new things and different approaches. Don't force repetition of the more tedious (aka not challenging) parts of the game, force repetition of the core challenging gameplay.