Don't take this part personally, but would you rather the game came as advertised, only minus the standard cars? There's no changing what's happened, so it's probably best to get over it!
Homage, fine;
Padding, probably;
boredom,
eh? cover-up ... ??
Kazu himself admitted that the premiums are probably better suited to the next generation of consoles - is it still a cover-up, then? Stop with your sensationalism, please - you're sounding like a ten-a-penny journalist now
Oh, and 🤬 the backlash!

I doubt he would have been laughed off the stage - I saw some FAIL moments (at least in my mind) that still got an inanely enthusiastic applause... Different strokes, and all that.
___________________
EDIT:
How did I miss that pic of the main menu? Looks good! Especially like the idea of "practice" as a separate mode, almost; and it looks as though the tuning is all under one roof, together with wheels, wings (assuming these two return from GT4), oil change and car wash!