If you had a chose, what payment plan would chose:

[Racemaniac]

So every month they release a car to buy with real money which later on they will release for free?

[Dr Houbenheimer]

No, the idea is that after that month it is not available whatsoever, so it can only be purchased in that month, after that, no more will be available.

[ElvenAvenger]

Well wouldn't it create a "sense of exclusivity" for people purchasing "exclusive" visual parts as well?

I'll go back to the BattleField Heroes example - Every month they have new special clothing ( you know, like one week people can pay to get medieval clothing that they can purchase and own for a certain amount of time, or, for more money they can own the item permanently, and then this would apply for future months when they introduce pirate clothing, and then ninja clothing, and then maybe clown costumes) and they would also introduce exclusive weapons each month ( which are rarely on sale for permanent ownership, but can be bought for a few days, a week or a month, something along those lines) so they would have a slight advantage on the "performance" side of things, but it's not like a guy with the exclusive weapon cannot be killed by a guy with a normal weapon. Anyway, the person who is not willing to spend their money on ingame items can work up ingame VP ( Valour Points, earned through gameplay, but in the case of WO, it would be cash from winning races) to buy a similar weapon to help even out the battle, but obviously you'd want to keep it so the people buying with real money would have a slight advantage still so that they would keep spending and not just by weapons with ingame money.

Converting this to WO, you could buy performance parts with both ingame and real money, but to make people want to spend their money you'd make it so that (example)

Level 1 turbocharger costs $X ingame money

Level 2 turbocharger costs $XX ingame money

Level 3 turbocharger costs $X real money

So against people not buying anything with either ingame or real money, the person playing with the Lvl 3 turbocharger bought with their real money would have a distinct advantage, but against someone who has bought a Lvl 1 or 2 turbocharger with ingame money, the person would have a SLIGHT advantage. This could apply to all performance parts.

Therefore, people will have felt that it has been worth their while spending real money on a high quality part, but at the same time a player not willing to pay real money can still progress through the game without being completely pwned by someone who has got all they're parts via microtransactions. So just to reiterate, a person having payed for Lvl 3 parts will have an advantage over a person who payed ingame for Lvl 1 or 2 parts, and even moreso for someone who hasn't bought any parts and still has his cars stock parts, but in the end, if the racing ability of the "ingame" driver is considerably better than the "microtransaction" player then the "ingame" driver will still win.

Just another thought, going back to the Battlefield Heroes example again, with the exclusive parts every month, the developers could work on an exclusive car every month, it doesn't have to be a better car than any ingame car, but paying players could buy this exclusive car every month, and I think that if I'd bought a "limited edition" car that is only available for one month then I would be really happy. For instance, all the cars that come with the game are available with ingame money, but for the month of "January" people can pay a microtransaction for the Skyline 2000 (from SHIFT) and that would only be available in that month, and then next month you could have a (um...) Lexus Soarer, but keep 99% of cars free available from the car lot on the initial start of the game.

Oh well, this took like half an hour to write so I hope you all go to the small effort of reading all this, and most importantly EA. Actually, I think I might go email that guy from EA with what I wrote up there before in conjunction with this post, and hope for a response

i could agree with like 90% of the post, but performance parts arent fair in a racing game. in the Battlefield heroes, i believe each weapon has its own advantages and disadvantages, but in any game with performance tuning, a better part is a better part. but idea with limited editions of cars buyable only during that month is great, just ...perfect? well as perfect as paid things can be , they could even sell replicas of movie cars, or some real world famous tuned cars.

[Racemaniac]

Well actually, what Dr. Houbenheimer said is that a person buying Level 3 parts will obviously have an advantage over a non-buying player with Level 2 parts. The player with Level 2 parts will be at a disadvantage over the Level 3 player but if the Level 2 player has more skill than the Level 3 player, then he can defeat the Level 3 player. So he means that there will be a performance advantage but skill will also make a difference in who has the final laugh.

[ElvenAvenger]

Well actually, what Dr. Houbenheimer said is that a person buying Level 3 parts will obviously have an advantage over a non-buying player with Level 2 parts. The player with Level 2 parts will be at a disadvantage over the Level 3 player but if the Level 2 player has more skill than the Level 3 player, then he can defeat the Level 3 player. So he means that there will be a performance advantage but skill will also make a difference in who has the final laugh.

i understand what he meant, but i don't really want real money buyable performance parts. i don't want to see some random guy with more money than intelligence pull up and start doing failed showoff.

[Dr Houbenheimer]

Yeah well anyone can try and showoff, but if your a lousy driver, then your just gonna look like an idiot aren't you.

[Racemaniac]

Of course you're going to make a complete fool out of yourself.