It's not about the amount of developers working on the game but the overall budget you have for development that you can spend on any resources and from that perspective imo valve is in a different league than s3s (which is not meant in any bad way). So I don't think it's fair to neglect that portion, as big companies can take a lot more risks in their decision making, trying things, the sheer amount of data they have how all the games on steam make their money...
The statement that comparing to TF is not ideal in this context, is not saying TF's or other's free2play models are bad or don't work. I do think however, them being valve and having that kind of reach, and the kind of games those titles are, makes them not comparable to this racing game, different target audience...
World of tanks, arguably a very successful free2play game also has its own "currency" and others do it as well, so it's not too uncommon.
I do agree about your point with the early-access model, but we don't know about each studio's funds and where they will be in a few years... so that's just speculation. Happily backed pcars early on, and if simbin had chosen that model, would have done so, too. They went for a different way to get access... but I have also no idea what the final price or content of pcars will be, and how much my pre-funding will actually be worth. Though given there is discounts for all those virtual goods all the time, you can either wait or buy now, the "value" is always what it is worth to you at the moment.
for many racing gamers licenses are important, I am not sure how "fair" the pcars approach of using unlicensed content and simply renaming is, but I am happy that r3e went for trying to get fully licensed content, and they have a few full series out.
Would also argue that r3e felt more "ready" when it came out, with pcars I sporadically tried every couple months, and only since end of last year I felt they are in an overall good shape (in my opinion).
like others mentioned, you seem really zeroed in on seeing the negatives, which is why you get the responses you get. doesn't make all your points invalid, or how things are/went with r3e perfect. it's like with the offline feature, I am sure everyone would prefer it, but for some it's not really the reason to dislike the game that much. They are not arguing for favoring awlays online, but acceptance.
to get this a bit more constructive on topic:
I think it would be interesting if r3e could unlock certain multiplayer content for free. That portion already got good reviews and gives people different impression of the game's content as well. The free competitions already cycle content nicely, but something that also cycles racing content might be a way to get people in (given MP is also a bit more robust than the contenders). Though I have no idea if that makes sense business wise