The way this forum operates whenever Polyphony is criticized even mildly (and this time deservedly) by bringing up 'fReE uPdAtEs' like it's some sort of Yu-gi-oh trap card really is on thin ice, and tiring.
The penalty system is crap. It has been crap for a good chunk of time now - and the idea that it needed a very popular streamer, at an official event, to get a horse**** penalty, and subsequently get negative press on a site with the series' name placed upon it, is absolutely appalling. It also goes hand in hand with how Polyphony operates in terms of communication with the wider community, and also is part and parcel with how these free updates are announced.
We get it, free updates are nice. That doesn't say anything about literally anything else Polyphony does in terms of community engagement, which can be considered lackluster at absolute best in many categories that isn't pushing out free updates in order to fatten up a game that was lacking in content from the beginning, and only because their lack of communication and cavalier attitudes put their relationship with a not insignificant portion of the fanbase on rocky ground.