I was thinking that it seems each playable race in the game is influenced by real world people. The Bretons seem to be french, The imperials roman, Redguards Arab, the mer to me seem to be kind of asian. What do you think?

Oh boy , here it comes ....

I think it's obvious the writers and artists of TES use multiple real world cultures to influence its fictional people, but it's not good to think of them that way. The TES races have their own history and culture that's just as interesting as any real world example. If you see Nords as vikings or Imperials as Greco-Romans you're missing out on a lot of what makes them interesting.

I agree with Dwayne.

I agree with both of you 100% I don't like to think of them that way, and never once did when playing the games

They are mash ups of different cultures that create something unique. For instance, several different cultures in TES have borrowed from Japan. Morrowind has gotten a lot of their aesthetic look while the Redoran got their honor code, the Tsaesci from Akavir have gotten their fighting style, weapons, and armor, and the Redguards got their social structure, their political structure, some naming conventions, and also their warrior code.

The interesting thing is that while aspects of real world cultures are used as inspiration, none of them are imported whole sale into Tamriel.

Here's what the developers themselves had to say when asked a similar question in an http://www.imperial-library.info/content/interviews-MW-team:

And that's Morrowind, which is one of the most Alien cultures. Its got Japan, ancient Egypt, Middle-Eastern themes, and more. On top of that, there is probably sparks of pure creativity that give it a unique flavor.

Here's my take on it.

No one real race = one Tamriel race. Rather it is just a generalised overlay of the Tamriel map on Earth. It's only the foundations for a province & it's people and everything on top is fantasy. No Tamriel race is supposed to stay an exact copy.

Skyrim = Northern Europe (Germanics / Norse, Balts & Slavs etc)
High Rock = Western Europe (Celts, Basques, resettled Germanics / Norse etc)
Hammerfell = Northern Africa & Arabia (Arabs, Moors, Berbers, Mali etc)
Cyrodiil = Mediterranean, Near East (Romans, latins, Greeks, Byzantines etc)
Morrowind = Central Asia (Turks, Mongols, Western Chinese etc)
Black Marsh = Southeast Asia (Khmer, Thai, Indonesians etc)
Alinor = Atlantis (based on fiction related)
Valenwood = South America (Amazonian Indians etc)
Pyandonea = Central America & Pacific (Mayans, Hawaiians etc)
Elsweyr = South Asia (Indians, Persians, Afghans etc)

A lot of the Yokudan history back from Daggerfall looks like a direct translation of the japanese warring states period. Especially Frandar Hunding is Miyamoto Musashi in disguise.

Just to add to my list

Akavir = East Asia (& perhaps North America?)

Yokuda = Mu (would possibly explain Hints of Japanese influences)

Many of the races in Tamriel, especially the human ones, do superficially resemble real-life cultures. However the lore says otherwise when you peel back the skin. Take Nords:

On the outside, they're this mishmash of Norse, Slav, and a little Gaelic culture. They're a people from the far north that love to party, fight, and [censored] in no particular order. Nordic religion is very grim in terms on how the world is a violent place that is fated to end violently, and regards warriors are the ideal as those that die honorably in combat get to go to a paradise of everlasting partying, fighting, [censored]. Nords also like to drink, a lot, and sail, a lot, and sometimes raid, a lot.

Nords also practiced mummification in elaborate burial tombs for priest-kings in the ancient past, divide the world in kalpas where the universe is destroyed then created once more, built elaborate stone works with no motor keeping the masonry together, and have a special magic that lets them shout at the world into doing what they want, brought to you by immortal, destructive, flying demi-gods called dragons.

Suffice to say, the Nords are a unique people all their own.

Yokuda is basically Japan, ya. And both got nuked.