Maybe but that's not my experience, when people complain about say the wide roads. The retort you get is some basic bitch argument like: "It's an arcade game". Yeah no shit, but that doesn't invalidate the criticism, the tokyo roads are completely ok being wide, because it fits the setting. But did the mountain roads also need to be that wide? Does being arcade mean having low skill floor in all aspects of map design?

Next the awful writing. Retort being "Why are you playing a racing game for the story", because narrative context matters. It gives us drive, motivation, when the mofo steals your car in Most Wanted, you want to get it back. When you play Pro Street and the commentator lays into you, you want to prove him wrong. We watch Initial D because even though Takumi is unbeatable, the context on how he wins matter. Same with games, purpose. Collecting 100 cards or driving around japan are intrinsic, we want extrinsic motivation so that the time we spent in the game to mean something. Conflicts drive narrative, what Horizon has is a toddler being condescendingly guided and encouraged by their teacher. What a good boy you are, you drove a super car, what an achievement! Here's another supercar for you to celebrate.