If Horizon 6 launches with any option to change the in-game credits rewards, then for those who believe “the game should be a grind” there should be a special mode - Hardcore. With this setting turned on, the game would become extremely unrewarding and even more tedious to play than anything seen before.
The player would start with a loaned car that they have to pay off within 10 races, otherwise they will be softlocked and have to make a new save file to progress with the game. Any and all races would require an entry fee, which would increase drastically with each consecutive wristband. Drivatar difficulty would be set to the highest, yet offer 0% difficulty bonus; all other assists can remain adjusted though. Race payouts would be minimized to less than 20% of the base payout. The player would be barred from any in-game rewards, including in-game gifts, wheelspins, car drops (if they return), barn finds, ‘cars for sale’ (the new feature), and playlist rewards. All cars in the Autoshow would have massive fees for purchase (upwards of 300% of the base price), same case with any upgrades (500% +) in the upgrade menu; I’d like the livery editor to be paid as well, but that may be a bit too far. All owned cars would have registration and insurance costs, and any damage dealt to player’s own car and other cars would be realistically calculated and taken from the player’s balance, so that’s another way to easily go bankrupt.
One may ask, “what’s the reward for all of this?”, and my answer to this is: nothing. You’ll get nothing for deliberately making the game unnecessarily difficult for yourself, with a high chance of getting softlocked pretty much instantly. But if you’re asking for a grind then you should expect an actual grind. I’d certainly implement this to a game if I was ever developing one that could allow for this. Alternatively, completing the game under Ultra Hardcore could reward the player with a massive lottery-esque bonus (eg. 20 mil credits) after unlocking the Legend’s Island, or whatever it’s called. There’s certainly people out there who would love to endure such a challenge, though I am not one of them.