At the end of the day, it is YOUR game. YOU do whatever you want with it, and i don't see how those cheats affect the online world... The only things they affect is your single player career.
But duping cars and bday glitches are much worse than grinding and so on...
This. (mostly)
I was going to agree with the OP, but nope.
Grinding is NOT cheating. Why? Because people don't want to attempt to get cars via the birthday thing.
Letting your B-spec driver run an endurance race IS playing the game. Why? Because PD INTENTIONALLY put it there for it to be done, wether you must do it over and over again (like me grinding B-spec Indy 500 for the XP).
Now, the birthday exploit, I could see why it's called a cheat, but in the end it does NOT affect anyone (even in trading). Why? Because you obtained a vehicle yourself, sent it to yourself, and using it yourself. Everyone knows trading is now 🤬 up because of this, but you can just dupe your car if you fear it's a birthday car or if it's a scam.
Which brings me to the the "dreaded duping" exploit. Sure it's cheap and ruins the value of such a rare VIRTUAL CAR, but in the end, not everyone can sit there 24/7 and obtain hard to get cars.
For example, the Vettel Challenge. Not everyone has a wheel and the free time to sit in there attempting gold, little lone bronze. I (and others) have a DS3, which will not get you gold, but will barely get you bronze.
Sure the X2010 prototype is rare and all the "purist elitists" say "guard it, don't dupe it! Blah, blah, blah". I myself haven't gotten one, but could care less as I have 2 S. Vettel X2010's and will attempt to gain 2 more though the Vettel Challenge and from B-spec level 35.
TL;DR?
Over powered cars in a SINGLE PLAYER EVENT (that's right, NOT ONLINE) is NOT cheating because PD never put a HP or tire limit in A-spec (and don't want that ether). Same with B-spec. He drives like 🤬 until the mid-teens.
B-spec IS playing the game. Why? It's part of the game.
Grinding is not cheating, it's something that is OPTIONAL and is what all the elitists do instead of the birthday exploit to buy a car (or to just get the EXP to rank up).
The birthday exploit/duping isn't as much of a cheat as it is a glitch. A cheat is more like "enter a, up, square, y, b to unlock all cars". A glitch is not intentional. Get your facts right.
Now, I do agree the b-day/duping glitches are, well, cheap, but who really cares? It's a 🤬 GAME. If someone doesn't really have the time to grind for credits (or thinks it's boring (and it seriously is)), then they can just get their car from the B-day thing without affecting anyone and everyone's happy.
It's a game, and all the elitist/purist a** h**** need to 🤬 off and let us people who don't have a $100 wheel, a $500 seat setup, and a $1200 TV, or if your a working man, the time to obtain things. I myself have time, but I don't feel like trying a challenge over and over with a DS3. I don't have the money right now to buy a wheel (little lone the space to set it up). Winning is fun for me, grinding over and over for money (EXP is ok, but boring) is not. Doing a challenge over and over to just get bronze, is not. I'll do the b-day exploit to obtain expensive cars, thank you very much.
So, /thread. Seriously, this thread was pointless in the first place, and you had it coming.