I am of the opinion that the relatively small number of tracks and cars is actually good for the online focus of the game. Not many tracks and cars to learn, yet the online races are interesting by themselves, no matter the track (well, unless you suck on the current track). Having a one-make championship on just Interlagos would be quite satisfying I think(well, if one get's better with time that is).

I don't believe everyone that hits you in a corner is "cheating". I mean, in the lower rankings people are just bad at driving and being aware of their surroundings at the same time, so mistakes happen all the time. Knowing that I hit some people because I was trying to be "aggressive yet clean", and they may have thought that I am a "cheater" because of that makes me believe that most of the other drivers are the same and not actually cheaters. Sometimes it get's out of hand, that's all.

What I don't like at all though is that if you have a bad race you don't get to finish it. In DR.E races there are often very fast drivers that just started the game, so their DR is low, and they are 5 seconds per lap faster than the slowest 5 drivers. Combined with off the track excursions that easily becomes a 40-50(more) seconds difference at the end of the race, which makes the last racers not be able to finish the last half a lap, and often there is one more car to overtake in that last half a lap. Frustrating.

Yep I'm not worried about the few tracks... and I discovered I can improve my time a lot with time trial against the challenges limiting me to one lap and having a target that start by seeing impossible and when I cross I'm 0.5s lower than it and knowing I could reduce it for at least another 1s.

Yes not all... but it was a B group and besides having the free time, warming and qualification 2 time with a full hit because I decided to do the right trace instead of brake and keep on the inside to avoid suckers but destroy my time... that seems more like people that are just using you for brake... it happens a lot, as Svennoj mentioned, they know they can force you of field and still make you get a penalty.

And there is a difference between aggresive and doing a small bump due to miss calculation or not seeing someone on your side, and hitting front on the door.

Well it's bad not to be able to finish the race, but is even worse that the leader have to wait over 40s after finishing before going for another race. The main issue in this is as Sve said, the game say it'll go for balance on all racers, this mean DR, SR and lap time being as close as possible... but they end up just putting equal SR and then DR only reducing by the amount of available racers, and there are several over 5s diffence, I have raced as pole on races with 15s...

I actually look at the best WW laps and only accept when I'm within 4s of the best.

 I’m curious when they’ll add the weather. They teased it several times already, from snow and rain tires over wet roads in the driving school and actual rain on the latest GT Vision car trailer (Zagato). It’s only a matter of time...if I remember right they did the same for GT5 back then. I’m sure they’ll try to beat Driveclub...maybe they even use their tech..?!

There's a difference between small mistakes and forcing openings that aren't there. You can easily spot the difference by the follow through. Someone who accidentally hits you will let go off the gas at least. If they have some sportsmanship in them they will slow down and back off, let you recover, sometimes wait to let you go in front of them, or apologize in chat after the race or by message. Intentional ones do not let go off the gas and steer a little bit extra into you then keep pushing around the corner. The difference is quite clear in how their car comes out of the bump.

You can expect that people that start with a decent qualify time at least know the track. It doesn't matter what DR rank they are in as that's very easily manipulated. I have seen plenty DR.D drivers with qualifying times at DR.A level and driving at that level.

Mistakes happen, it all comes down to how you behave after making a mistake. Knock me out of a corner by not holding your line or hitting from behind and pass at full speed ahead anyway, that's no longer just a mistake, it's bad driving.

When I accidentally hit someone by misjudging a pass, I back off, apologize if I send them off track. I don't pass them, slow down to let them pass again if it made them loose speed against the wall. Ofcourse they could still see me as a cheater, since if I hold my line and they bump into me, then I keep going. I see no reason why passing on the inside would be bad behavior as long as you cling to the inside and not go wide cutting them off. Same for passing on the outside as long as you stay away from the apex on the outer half. Yet some people think they have the right to every inch of track in the corner and will hit you anyway. In that case the response of their car quite clearly tells you whether it was intentional or not.

That's my experience after 350 online races, I wonder if you could train an AI too to spot the difference in behavior :) Atm the system simply deals out a penalty on contact without looking at anything else. It only detects hard hits from behind at corners, the only time you don't get a penalty. (Unless that hit sends you into the car in front of you)

Not getting to finish the race sucks indeed. Waiting sucks too yet you're never late for the next race anyway. Why not let late comers keep driving while sending the leaders to the result screen already. It shouldn't be that difficult to implement.

It must be the adrenaline from the FIA race as people are considerably less well behaved on those. I've seen people drop from S to B SR rating in one FIA championship race.

Funny enough, the game encourages rage quitting as it will only make things easier by dropping your DR rank :) SR rank takes a hit too though, but you can quit multiple races in a row before it has significant effect.

If you're dropping in rank you earn much less points as a result, in those championships, right?! Or does this only apply to driver ranks?

Yep, allowing who already finished to go to the lobby and then quit if he wants while also allowing people to finish their races is a good compromise.

It could be... I just found it strange that it was so rash and sequential.

Yes you get less points. However those points don't mean anything. XP and price money are purely based on your finish position in the actual race. The points are only there to tell you what position you are on the leaderboard which is erased the second the championship is done.
Perhaps you'll get some xp and prize money when the test phase is over, yet so far the whole championship ranking seems pointless. (Unless you win, then your name gets plastered over the banner all week, he did you know OrmaSnow won again...)

Well today daily race B was Interlagos again. People simply cannot be patient in the first corner. Starting last was fine, yet later I got harassed after cleanly passing someone. Slowing down not to hit the person in front apparently means come push me of the track. I did a qualifying run after to start ahead of the worst.

Ofcourse matching puts me at 10th place, I slow down properly to follow closely in the first corner without touching, DeathGrip behind me ofcourse pushes my car into the green zone. I pass him cleanly again, he causes a huge mess in the second corner pushing me and others off-road than ghosted out passing through the field. (What can you expect with a name like that) I quit the race, did a few more qualifying laps to be ahead of him.

Matchmaking puts me at the same position despite a much better qualifying time. Same thing happens in the first corner with a different player, then again in the 4th corner. Quit, done with it for today. I'm back to mid DR. D now, questioning myself why I keep trying to have fun with this game...

I'll probably be back to it tomorrow anyway.

Yep, PD must come with an option with auto DQ for excessive touches, yes you may get unfair punishment when being the victim, but if the bully also gets it, then on this mode no one will be aiming to hit.