I do understand gripes about progression somewhat, but I feel like the benefits of how PG organized the game far outweigh the negatives.
For more personally, I'll be playing the SP aspect of this game until FH4 comes out, and that certainly wasn't the case with FH2. By the end, it was online or nothing.
The fact that I can set up a 10-course, 100+ mile series with classic muscle cars or whatever I'm in the mood for is amazing.
I agree 100%, that side of it is perfect,but I just wish there was some kind of funnel for that content, some kind of pathway, you could easily still be able to choose car class and tracks and still have a breadcrumb path, it needs a bit more polish to the gameplay loop.
For winning races and content, you get three things, CR, XP, and skill points.
XP and skill points are arguably finite resources, the turnover of XP to tombola wins isn't high enough for gaining a level to win a spin to be a significant focus, so XP, after a certain level, pushing for levels via XP doesn't have much of a draw for end game, skill points are again finite, ok so there are repeating rewards you can buy for the skill pages, but again not much of a draw for end game.
CR is probably the biggest focus, as buying and upgrading cars pretty much is the end game (arguably finite, but I dare anyone to buy and upgrade all cars!).
I know that it's not destiny, but it's a shame, because the driving model is so, so good, that a coherent and compulsive end game would make it something really really special.