NFS Unbound - error code "FTCL50001"

So this is an issue I've been experiencing since Vol. 7 and has now carried over to Vol. 8. When I select online in the main menu I load into the game just fine; I get into the garage, can work on my cars, character, etc. When I then select play and try to find a session, the splash screen comes up, loading bar fills up completely, the screen fades to black with a loading icon in the bottom right corner and after that I get put back to the main menu and 'lakeshore online' is greyed out as if I'm playing offline. I do NOT get any error codes, it just spits me out to the menu. This is definitely not an internet issue, as this can happen while I'm on voice chat without any issues, and I'm able to then reconnect to the servers, load into online again, and the cycle repeats. As it stands I am completely unable to play this game online.

I couldn't find much online about this issue, except for one Reddit thread which said it's linked to the amount of cars you own. I've since sold a tonne of cars that I didn't use, this worked for a little while in Vol. 7 but since the release of Vol. 8, this issue is back and I didn't receive any new cars in this time (regardless this shouldn't be an issue in a game where you're mainly building cars)

Really hoping someone knows why this is happening and what could be causing this issue, and of a possible fix. Of course I've done all the basic things like updating drivers, verifying files, reinstalling the game. Online is completely unplayable for me right now.