In my opinion, micro-transactions are bane of gaming industry. I have no problem when they are implemented for cosmetic items that do not interfere with gameplay - but when F2P is actually Freemium, which, more or less, comes to game being based around simple philosophy that core mechanics need to work in a way to produce purposeful frustration in players in order for them to reach for their CC and overcome it - that's when game design suffers in order to accommodate for money grabbing.
In case of this game, waiting for fixing your car if you don't want to pay. And yes, many things can be achieved with skill and grinding - but that grinding is there with goal of making player frustrated and eventually reaching for a wallet. Make it too easy and they won't have incentive to do it - make it too hard and they will quit your game. Data collection and statistical analysis becomes more important than classic game design, which in the end produces worse games.
Depending on how EA (and presumably rest of publishers) implements this, we might not even care much at first - required grind will probably not be too different and obstructive than what we're used to anyway - but, just like all those FB publishers, as time goes by and their audience gets accustomed to this model, they will slowly increase the curve until it's simply not possible to play the game and enjoy it unless you shell out some serious money on micro-transactions. By that time, if industry as whole accepts this model, it might be too late for change - the frog will be already boiled.
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