So all this discussion made me want to fiddle with Pathfinder 2e and see what their choices have led to. PF2e has the option of giving any character two floating ability boosts (+2 to an ability score) no matter their race, which is what humans get. So I decided to use that and make a dwarven sorcerer using a variant of the draconic bloodline, one that grants divine rather than arcane spells.
Using the dwarven racial feats, I was able to create a very solid spellcasting tank with access to battle axes from level one, which most casters can't get but mine could because of a dwarven weapons racial feat. So without racial ASI, I was still able to make a wholly unique type of character that I could pretty much only make because I was playing a dwarf and given access to unique racial feats. So no, I still could have made a normal sorcerer too and been as good as any other, but pf2e let me make her race an interesting mechanical part of her throughout the leveling process. Whereas in 5e all that the racial ASI would have done is keep her behind any sorcerer from a race that doesn't grant +2 charisma. So I reiterate mine and many other people's point here; ASI is a poor, boring way to demonstrate racial differences and if you want race to really matter then you should be pushing for more unique racial features more than anything else. Things that open up new ways to play classes by using different races, encouraging creativity and new avenues for mechanics and roleplay alike.
