3 quick little steps to take (only 2 if stupid cvars were working again).

... and if you had graphics issue you may not want to try this

Step 1, revert your Rage back to first "clean" Rage.exe (if you don't know what I mean then sorry I won't tell you how, but it's easy enough to do - but if you haven't installed the "graphics patch/update" then you're fine anyway)
Step 2, cvaradd g_showminimap -1
Step 3, cvaradd r_highlightfrequency -0.75

First one removes the minimap which MAKES you explore
Second one disables the shiney 'quest' items and ammo, so that you actually have to 'shuffle' through things (the environment/shelves/etc.) to find stuff..

Two simple little tweaks, but they make the game feel much more "Apocalyptic" IMO.

Please add your own here:

P.S. to fix these you can either retype the appropriate commands (if you've done them via the console) or you can just quit the game since they won't "save". If you have added them to your .cfg then just put a double slash in front of them to 'comment' them out "//" (or delete'm I suppose)

When you have to add more play time and challenge via looking at lots of objects that are pretty blurry up close vs spotting them at a glance, there's something seriously wrong with that picture. Too hard on my eyes me thinks.