Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-28401107-20190117111544/@comment-28169398-20190223060304

RR4 was never discussed, so what it was supposed to be, the improvements that it was to make, and how it differed from RR3 is known only to EA/FM employees, and now former employees.

If you read the article it says

"The company did reply with a statement, however, confirming that the studio "entered a consultation period" to shift focus towards "more on our live services"."

The way I read this, it suggests that the major improvements which RR4 addressed were only to the single-player experience and really didn't make any substantial improvements to Online Multiplayer. As such, RR4 didn't align with the goal of the focus shift to live services.

It is likely that RR3 was seen as a sufficient platform for them to grow player v. player racing on a mobile platform without developing enhancements that would divert players to the single-player experience.