Players get sick and tired of having to do the same thing over and over again, using the same limited selection of races which are acceptable for their chosen class. It limits creativity, it does not enhance it.
Conversely, the "it's all just flavor and races have literally no distinctive feature" has its downsides as well.
I wish most players would stop conflating anything that is remotely "inconvenient" on the short term with something being inherently bad.
"Limiting your options" in this case just points to the fact that an innate difference exists to begin with.
I wouldn't wish for a setting where gnomes and half-orcs have the same average strength, if anything I'd wish for a class system that that would make a non-strength-focused gnome a viable option for a similar role while still taking his differences into account.
