To understand that Ethan is walking down the road, we need to hack the game and see what we can't see in the game itself. I think it makes sense to agree that it is very strange to treat this as a storytelling.
However, I can't deny that the scene clearly shows the car stopping in front of this person. We also know that Ethan is a character without a face, so the authors use different and even creative methods to avoid showing Ethan.
Does that mean Ethan could have survived? I think so. He could have survived. The developers could have added this moment as a touch of hope.
But that doesn't mean Ethan's story wasn't ended. It was ended. Ethan's journey had come to an end, whether he survived or not.
If people also think that the next game will definitely be a game about Rosemary, then I will remind you of the plot twist about the BSAA.
I was going to write a reply but this honestly sums up what I would've been writing, so thanks for that. You did the work for me.
Ethan being alive and assumedly regenerated after an extremely dark journey for him and the player was the way to go in my eyes after an extremely dark couple of games. His story was way more tragic and painful than what I feel ANY other main RE protagonists in the franchise have been through.
With that in mind, I think without this ending, it would've felt too much like despair-porn with everything that has happened to Ethan and his family thus far. It was the ending I didn't know I needed, and its subtly in its execution serves it well without being "too" hopeful since the player currently really doesn't know, but heavily implied.
This ending was 100% well played and deserved on Capcom's part if so, and I hope that's the case. Character arcs don't often close in this series, but a closure doesn't have to be through death or martyrdom, either. I'm honestly tired of that troupe, in both real life and in fiction. There has to be a balance.
"Retirement" in any way for these characters is 100% acceptable to me, and the villians always being done in by the player in these games holds their own tragedy and weight as their ill-intentions are what really brings it upon themselves as "evil-doers" or more morally-challenged characters. I believe "true" intentions from characters, like what Ethan had, should be better off rewarded in a narrative. Of course, characters on both "sides" can be complex, flawed and make mistakes, but love can still prevail in the end, despite bumps in the road, and Ethan is fundamentally a loving character. He doesn't do anything out of revenge or feeling the need like HE has to be the one to save the world like the rest of the RE cast. He just wants to help his family.
Unless it's Game of Thrones, our protagonists can live for as long as they need to for all I care. The story just needs to stay interesting and well-written as possible.
Ethan sacrificed everything, but he was still rewarded with life in the end, coming back full circle with his reunion with Rose, thus ending the father's story. I don't think his ability to live on takes away from any of that. Amazing.