Its crazy to me that a game that is this barebones gets released in 2014. I dare to say even NFS series have more cars and customization then this game.
I am gonna give you 1 reason why this game still be successful despite the low reviews:
1. Next gen consoles do not have triple A RPG (or something close to rpg) game and people with these systems are starving for it. I think this game was released early to cash in on this fact. (Notice its released before new Dragon Age, Lords of Fallen etc.) It looks like they built the foundation of the game but not spent time on mission design. When even the blindest of the fanboys can see this your game might have problem.
It may not be getting direct cash from publishers but sites like these are need to get on well with publishers to get advertisement from them which is their main income.
iagbas' comments