well all i can say is i KNOW some where some time some one WILL make a mod for it i bet lol,if the devs are (sorry to say but truth hurts) to dumb to listen to fans and create a free roam instead of making excuses they can expect one of two things :
they make sells but not nearly as much
OR
ALOT of ppl will say screw paying for it wait for a torrent ( TISK TISK) lol and play the single player and be done with it since mp will be limited to same race tracks over and over...
but like i said im sure someone will make a mod for some kind of free roam eventually. There are plenty of games that devs didn't listen to fans and someone creates the mod and the game gets popular through cracked mp mods so their loss of money
added
but wassup bk at ya and thanks for the info!