I totally understand them wanting to delay to perfect the game. The last game they made was Motorstorm: Apocalypse and they ran into some problems around launch that overall really hurt their sales. They may be reluctant to repeat that and I totally understand.

Someone forgets Delaystation 3.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/445692/sony-to-announce-driveclub-release-date-shortly/

Release date coming shortly so I cannot see it being that far off.

Another point is that delays do not mean polish.  This is a misconception by gamers because there have been many games delayed from their launch and have not been polished, complete or even good.  A delay means the game is not ready and will not be ready on the date specified.  There could be many things that would cause that problem.  In development, especially when a project gets to a certain point, developers are clear on the amount of hours it will take to complete or a good estimate.  It appears there are things with Drive Club that is causing the time more time to figure out or complete.

I would rather they take a few more weeks/months to release it complete, without bugs or unbalanced game mecanics, than wasting everyone's time (gamers, devs) and money with an unfinished game.

It looks amazing, but giving a game the extra polish that makes a good game amazing takes time, they need to test it and play it many times to find all the little things that must be tweaked to reach perfection, it's also a new IP, on a new console, it's developped from nothing, every little details has to be though through and analysed, there is no special shortcut to this, not if you want a high quality AAA game.