Not at all
Well, it does, but they're not needed. I've been having some great races and not bothered about buying anything I was offered a starter pack code, so had a dabble My normal car is an awesome RX7 - tier 2. All achieved without the use of any payments. the money and rep awards are best via the Escape Mode
I loaded this up when I first got the machine and played for about 30mins.
I didnt like the fact I can drive straight through people.. BORING.
Anyway I could load this up again at some point I spose. I was using my Logitech Chillstream Gamepad for the controls, much better than keyboard
There is noclipping in Free Roam (apart from with NPC) as it would just be unbearable constantly crashing/getting stuck in people if there wasn't. In the races however, you can smash into the other players as normal
As far as microtransactions go, like Pez said, I haven't and dont plan to pay for anything, you can still buy all the cars etc with the "Cash" you earn. Things like neon's / tinted windows etc you have to pay for though.