OK a follow up. So this is how this happened.. I had been playing a couple of hours and finished an area. It then opened a new one. I went there, did a couple of races and then it mentions this Blizzard Mountain. Which from where I was earlier is this far away.
Now bear in mind I started the game in a shitty slow car. It was 12km+ away. The only reason I drove there was because it had snow. I like snow. Any way, this is what it looks like actually highlighted on the map.
There is no mention whatsoever (I checked) that is it a paid for part of the map. You have to drive all of the way there to find that out. Then, you have to drive all of the way back from whence you came. So that is 24km which takes quite a while.
As for the race I had to pay for? I nearly had that spot on. I went back earlier (well, I spawned there) and every other car apart from the very first one wants you to spend £13 on the car pack. The only reason this happened was because I didn't quite like the look of the one I could buy in game (as, would I imagine, many others). When I looked earlier though this tank cost 600,000 CR. I had about 70,000. It probably knows this too, which is probably why they put it so far away and make you think "hey ! I wonder what that is !" only to get there and find that you're going to have to pay.
So that one was somewhat user error, but at no point in the game have I yet been close to 600k CR. That's insane.
Any way, I just played for about 1.5 hours. I noticed that every time I finished a race it showed me this.
You know? kinda like as an advert between loading. I ignored it and carried on playing. I then entered a 3 race championship, won it and then it showed me yet another advert for Blizzard Mountain. As if this wasn't bad enough it then started showing me an advert for Hot Wheels ! which pissed me off so much I went off to the toilet for a wee.
When I got back? this is what was waiting for me.
I didn't touch anything apart from what I pee from.
Am I being sensitive? yes, maybe a little. Am I being over sensitive and freaking out? no. It's taking the piss, even when I am in chilled out "Let's just try and ignore it" mode. It's really ruining the game.
This is why that video with the guy talking about hats and shit is just so spot on. Yes, having hats and stupid shit makes little real difference, but, at the same time it's not constantly trying to make you buy the hat as you've obviously paid for it. I don't expect all of this "extra"? content. I'm not fussed. However, what is pissing me off is its constant need to keep going on and on and fucking on about it. Seriously, they must have thought "Shit, some people won't buy it because they won't be that bothered, so let's drive them fucking crazy with it until they do !". That's how it feels. I'm trying to ignore it and pretend its not there but it's constantly mashing it in my face.