This now exists - you can see boats as early as 30 seconds before the start ( in race replay all boats, in Daily Race Practice, 1 boat, and more are showing up as the time progresses towards the start )

Positioning myself at the start was quite tricky and found other competitors would always seem to have a much better one than myself, meaning that I had lost the race from this point.

agreed, maybe have a competition that is just the start please

agreed! This was also something for VR Regatta daily race- Greg Dziemidowicz this timeframe is important to capture and learn from