Hehe, yes :)
As in every game everything is tiered.
Apex > Legendary > Epic > Rare > Common.

Higher tier doesn't necessarily mean the better. Stats vary between tiers/cars & parts.There are bunch of tracks and different aspects of the car/driver combo are needed on different tracks (top speed/acceleration/grip & stamina/aggresion/concentration) and then add 4 different weathers with 5 tyre compounds. And soon enough you have a very complex game. :D

Now regarding transactions... the cheapest car I was able to buy some time ago was 0.05 ETH but the prices have gone up now (at least for season 2019 items - which is playable atm) - but the usual story is - ETH gas is killing us, tho you don't need to pay any gas fees to actually play the game which is awesome!