Gacha and vending machines are one of the most important and iconic parts of the Japanese culture and everyday life. I see a great potential for implementing them in the game - especially since wheelspins are actually that - gacha. It made no sense defining them this way in UK/Mexico, sure, understandable. When we’re moving to Japan though, we could bind the already existing mechanism to the cultural background to make the game better aka more culture-rooted and more immersive. It would be simply a fun mechanic too.
First - we could earn the vending machine coins instead of wheelspins directly, then drive to the actual horizon vending machine or the horizon gacha machine to use our coins in exchange for a wheelspin. Then, a normal wheelspin with Japanese flavor aka UI/machine talking etc. would occur. It may be also potentially separated into categories - sometimes a car coin, sometimes a cosmetics coin, sometimes the garage items etc. It wouldn’t require much work - just putting those spots with a vending machine model over the map, maybe in Tokyo and near the festival outposts and some scenic places and that’s it. It wouldn’t mess up with the economy balance since the rarity/prizes would still base on RNG dressed up in a local Japanese outfit - aka the gacha/vending machine.
Second - if it’s not possible to use the vending machines this way, it may be still possible to introduce the new, additional mechanic later - something like a backstage pass added in FH5, but with vending machines/gacha. Something we could do in addition to wheelspins - even though I still insist that wheelspins are a perfect opportunity for doing it through gacha/vending machines when the game takes place in Japan, when there’re already stamps to collect, discover Japan rewards etc. The stamps/Japan discovery tour are great ideas, I think that mine would also work as a complimentary one to make the game something special and to make the already existing systems more contextual/culturally-rooted and distinguishable from the other FH installments. You know, to not make it just the same game on a new map, but to actually use the Japanese culture to introduce new forms of the already working mechanics.
Maybe, you’ve already though about it and it is already in the game. You were in Japan, you absorbed and debated the iconic parts of the culture and you’re saying that when Japanese testers comment they’ve been here or there in real life, it’s their neighborhood etc., it makes you happy. The same way, using the vending machines and/or gacha would also make the experience more rich and immersive - because it’s so common and so obvious while living in Japan. Also, the experience of driving and stopping by the nearest vending machine is something common, especially in the countryside. My first thought after returning to Europe from Eastern Asia has always been “I miss the vending machines”.
Again, I think that collecting coins, driving up to the actual gacha machine etc. would make the wheelspins much more fun and culturally-immersive.
Greetings and everything best, N.Q 