Many players are discovering a significant change in how car parts are handled when reverting a car purchased from the auction house back to its stock configuration. In previous iterations of racing games, reverting a car to stock primarily affected the tuning setup, leaving any performance or cosmetic parts you had acquired and installed safely in your inventory. This allowed players to experiment with different builds, knowing they could always return to a previous configuration without losing their investments in car parts.
The current experience, however, is proving to be quite different and frankly, less player-friendly. When you revert a car from the auction house to stock, it appears that all the upgraded parts – from performance enhancements to visual customizations like body kits and rims – are now removed entirely. This is a departure from past behavior where, even after reverting to stock, these parts would remain in your inventory, ready to be re-equipped.
This change significantly impacts the appeal of purchasing modified cars from the auction house. Previously, acquiring a car with upgraded parts from auction was a viable way to quickly obtain components for your garage. You could revert the car to stock to suit your immediate needs, but retain the option to easily reinstate the performance upgrades later by simply re-applying the parts from your inventory. Now, if you decide to change rims or experiment with a different body kit after buying an upgraded car from auction and reverting it to stock, you will be forced to repurchase all the performance parts again to bring the car back to its previous performance level.
The in-game notification regarding reverting to stock is identical to those in previous games, stating only that the car will be reset. It fails to explicitly warn players that all purchased and installed parts will be removed and lost upon reverting to the stock configuration. This lack of clear communication is causing confusion and frustration within the player community.
While the intention behind reverting to stock might be understandable, perhaps aimed at preventing the unauthorized copying of car tunes, the consequence of completely removing purchased parts is a step backward in user experience. It undermines the value proposition of buying upgraded cars from the auction house and penalizes players for experimenting with car customization. It is crucial for developers to re-evaluate this mechanic and consider reverting to the previous system where purchased parts are retained in the inventory, even after stock reversion. This would provide a much fairer and more enjoyable experience for players engaging with the auction house and car customization features.
