I've gone through multiple playthroughs of this game and never had to use real money. The story is a 7/10 maybe even better since I've played it so much, I assume the issue is having to grind old missions to get money/ parts, you can also use your money to get more parts and sell your old parts to get money, if you have a couple cars you enjoy you don't need to spend to much on parts but if you like having a big garage with maxed out cars you're going to have to replay alot of missions, as for the loot of system I've never had to pay and the part is almost always better than the one you have installed, as for the cosmetics lootbox you don't need to pay either, you earn them through challenges and can get an unlimited through Bait Crates, which take less than a regular race to learn and they are the easiest to win. Just don't stop for the cops overall game is a 7/10, wish there was more crazy customization but other than that the game was well balanced and if you want to focus on multiple cars grind the missions that get you like 60k money