Why Did Jesus Have to Die? (Why Can't God Just Forgive me?)

Why can't God just forgive us? Why does Jesus have to die on the cross to do it? What does that accomplish? Well, we know if we hit someone's car, we can ask them to forgive us, and they can say yes. But what about the car? Who pays for the damages? It is like that, Jesus died on the cross is about the damage we do.