I'd say R20 in this game would be too low for your Chocobo license since you could have it by the end of your first day playing. In FFXI it took quite a bit more time and effort to get your first job to Lvl20 and you had to make a dangerous run to Jeuno which you probably had not visited yet. For the same milestone feeling, I think it would probably need at least R30 and a hike into Coerthas (maybe Ishgard will be our Jeuno by then).

Then breeding or racing should R40 or even R50 to make the grind worth something and give us more to do once we've hit the current cap. From the sounds of it, V1.18 should make it a little easier for casual players, so I don't think R50 is that unreasonable. I just feel it should be a goal for people to work toward.

Racing needs to be a fun and rewarding escape when you need a break from the regular game. Like many players, I just couldn't be bothered with racing in FFXI because there were no significant rewards from it. Mario Kart style racing would be awesome, SE even has a little experience with it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMNfUF0GRa4