Your missing a factor. Not sure how big that factor is. But in every genre from what I can gather online play is in decline. Gamers are going back to single player. I image pay to win, micro transactions and live service games plus continued copy and past of multiplayer games and not to mention games launched riddled with bugs are resulting in gamers fatigue.
I really wish multiplayer and by extension league racing were seen as a much higher priority than it apparently is. Posts of people unable to get into ranked lobbies with other players is a real concern, as are the de-sync issues that have plagued league racing in both this year's game and last. If the last gen audio stuttering issues are when racing (rather than just spectating) then that's obviously a big deal too.
It is great that cross-play functionality has been added and this shouldn't be ignored but stable performance is obviously key.
