wow.... everyone shares my exact same 'feelings' here ....
I just want to 'role play' ..for lack of better term with whatever car (or cars) I bloody god damn want to .... in GT4 for instance I got really really far with a RUF yellowbird and even turned it into an effective rally car when needed, but that felt like you could make a personal connection with a car you really liked rather than just collecting them for no reason whatsoever and only driving them when your forced too anyway...... but I want to be able to buy whatever humble car I choose and upgrade and maintain it... even better, if its damaged I want to have to repair it with my winnings.... ..this Could and Should be applied to racing against Ai and it some cases against other real drivers (not all of sport mode obviously) but where people would be encouraged to take care of they're cars in live races and feel some responsibility for costing other players game cash for damaging others and themselves... I laugh every time the game gives me extra credits for 'clean race' when I've still done something horribly wrong ... just add damage and make it realistic ....if the car companies don't want the cars banged up make it only internal/engine damage if necessary and they'll still be something to maintain/repair ... I mean, lights, windows, paint, engine, radiator, alignment ... if you banged or got banged a certain way in iRacing (not anymore unfortunately) your front alignment would really get knocked out of wack so you had to keep your nose clean or your steering wheel would be sideways *to go straight (This is a Thing in real racing) ... all of these could take damage and need repair
and for the love of god they seriously need to re-work, remake, reinvent the training/licensing ... it doesn't' teach you anything besides how to get better at licensing with each passing game - where I used to find them frustrating and tedious now they're just easy (And no less tedious) so I can get gold on the first or 2nd try ...but for a beginner (and experienced player) its a big ask to sit through
....how does making you randomly drive 1 half of a gravel course teach you anything about rally driving ... how bout a lesson on the Scandinavian Flick or handbrake turn (Richard Burns rally had these real lessons in-game in 2005 and it only ever had ONE RELEASE)...these are just a bunch of random 'tasks' and corners rather than a real racing/driving school ...
and as you buy your first car in the game the first thing you should do with it IS THE LICENSING ffs.... take advantage of the car tuning/upgrading .... let us pick one or 2 first cars and upgrade it as necessary for the licensing tests and as they get faster your car does as well ... just a thought ....
This is obviously an 'evolution' of the GT series rather than what we all wanted but besides making the same game over and over again ... stop forgetting about all the classic content and tracks past games had... what happened to all the classic tracks that were only in early games or only made one appearance.. what happened to 'snow'? for instance ... I won't even bother naming all the tracks I have fond memories of driving, ugh so many