Mechanics
Reconfigure
An Equipment with reconfigure can be cast as its own creature, then attached to another creature later by paying the reconfigure cost. It dodges the usual problem where Equipment is dead without a body.
Modified
A creature is modified if it has a counter on it, an Aura you control, or an Equipment attached. The Gruul deck counts modified creatures rather than any single mechanic, so three different upgrade paths all point the same way.
Crew and Vehicles
Vehicles become creatures when you tap other creatures with enough total power. The Azorius deck lowers crew costs so its ships attack far more often than the printed numbers suggest.
Improvise
Tap artifacts to help cast a spell. In a deck full of Vehicles that are only creatures when crewed, they are otherwise sitting idle anyway.
The set
Neon Dynasty put a science fiction coat on Kamigawa, and the two Commander decks take the two most mechanical parts of it: the Vehicles and the upgrades.
Modified is the smarter of the two ideas. Counters, Auras and Equipment all count, so the Gruul deck can build toward one payoff along three separate routes and rarely has a dead draw.
Vehicles get the same treatment in the Azorius box. Reconfigure blurs the line between Equipment and creature, crew reduction makes the ships attack far more often than their printed costs suggest, and Shorikai turns the whole thing into a card draw engine that also produces the Pilots to crew with.
Where to start
Buckle Up is the better built deck and Shorikai alone is worth the box. Upgrades Unleashed is more fun if you like suiting up a single creature and daring the table to remove it.
The decks 2
Kotori, Pilot Prodigy · Shorikai, Genesis Engine
An Azorius vehicle deck from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, led by Kotori, Pilot Prodigy, reduce crew costs on all your vehicles, generate lifelink and vigilance in combat, and chain draws with Shorikai to keep your hand full.
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade
A Gruul modified-creatures deck from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, led by Chishiro, the Shattered Blade, create Spirit tokens whenever you play Auras or Equipment, then pump every modified creature at end of turn for a snowballing army.