I hate that a lot of the ones with a progression settle on XP to unlock tiers of cars rather than money and buying them too. I liked going to the used car dealer ship in Gran Turismo and seeing what I could afford.

Contemporary racing games literally just throw cars at you in hope to make it fun by constantly giving you new toys.

Forza Horizon 5 is bizarre for this. It has an acquisition system, but right after the intro you pick one of three cars, all new and not cheap. Then you get a custom rally car from the next race. A bunch of unlocks are going to give even you more cars afterwards, and will keep doing so regularly.

Like hang on, maybe let me work up from one of your cheap, older cars first and work my way up?

But this is also the game that unironically calls you “superstar” from the jump and sucks you off constantly.