Microsoft and Turn10 had one of, if not, the best racing franchise ever. I believe the pinnacle of the series happened with Horizon 3. All the cars were always available, rewards were based on difficulty and skill, the auction house was actually developing into a decent user-oriented marketplace, the driving dynamics and physics were as good as ever.
With Forza 7 they clearly decided to sellout. They decided that they wouldn’t even make the transition smooth and gradual. From one game to another they changed when and how cars became available (specialty dealer, car tiers) they eliminated the real-world pricing scheme to make every car essentially cost more than $50k, they went from a skill and difficulty based reward system to using [Mod Edit - Abbreviated profanity, profanity and profanity that is disguised but still alludes to the words are not permitted - D] mods that are about the most obvious money grab I’ve ever seen.
Now the only reason to play Forza over any of the other racing games is the driving physics are still the best. How long until that changes too.
I have bought every Forza since Motorsport 3 as well as a substantial amount of DLC. Microsoft and Turn10 have been so obviously greedy and shortsighted that while they’ll still probably make millions on these micro-transactions, they have most likely lost a loyal customer. I didn’t preorder the latest game for the first time in several years and I don’t think I will purchase the next one at all.
A free piece of business advice: Its much more cost effective to keep an existing, loyal customer than to try to entice new ones to try your product.