For personal comfort, I liked a race track. It gives me some separation from "this is my stuff" to "this is playing surface". I think most folks who are not poker players would agree with me, because it just makes information more visible, concrete, and can provide comfort in a potentially uncomfortable setting.
That being said, this is a pretty much solved question with most folks preferring no racetrack. Racetrack makes the entire playing surface smaller, you're now reaching further onto the table to shuffle, peek cards, etc. (which sucks when playing a long session), some people use racetrack some people use felt, etc.
Take a look at Teddy KGBs photo above - look at how little space there is between stacks, shuffling, etc. I mean heck, there's not even room for someone on opposite middle seats to both have their chips on felt and the board/pot in the center. Idk what a racetrack done well means, but overarching support across membership is no racetrack, seemingly for functional reasons.
I think in conjunction with this topic, side tables are a great must have if possible (especially if food present). Don't make people eat standing up a foot from the table on paper plates. And this way people don't have to be constantly reaching around/over drinks, and they don't have to be fumbling constantly between phone, chapstick, whatever on the table, on their seat, in their pocket, etc.
As a player/attendee, my preference now is no racetrack, a sidetable, phone charger connection directly in either. I think that's gold standard A+.
