Adjust plot title and sub-title in base R

Question

How do I get base R plots title and subtitle to mimic ggplots? I'd prefer everything left aligned, nothing in bold, and subtitle to be directly below title.

I'd also like a little more space between everything. Maybe my newline \n 'hack' is the best way to accomplish this?

plot(mtcars)
title(main = "I want main title NOT bold and left aligned\n\n", 
      sub = "Sub title should be under the main title left aligned")

Answer 1

Based on Cettt's suggestions, what about using mtext as follows:

plot(mtcars, oma=c(2, 3, 5, 2))
mytitle = "I want main title NOT bold and left aligned"
mysubtitle = "Sub title should be under the main title left aligned"
mtext(side=3, line=3, at=-0.07, adj=0, cex=1, mytitle)
mtext(side=3, line=2, at=-0.07, adj=0, cex=0.7, mysubtitle)

The adj=0 option requests left alignment.
The line= options define the vertical position of each title, counting outwards from the border of the plot top margin.
You can play with the at= option to move the titles horizontally as wished.

Note also the use of the oma= option in the plot() call so that there is enough space to place the titles above the pairs plot.

Here is the plot: