to make online games fair, there has to be a working (read lag-free) netcode in the first place. starting a race from pole-position with a nearly unbeatable EG-X, but losing to an ICARAS which starts from 2nd place or below, isn't exactly what i would call lag-free. there's even lag, when i race in a private room vs. myself on my second PS3, when both PS3s using the same network. my secondary 60GB unit starts always 0.1seconds in front of my primary slim PS3, no matter which unit is host. as long as such problems aren't solved, a game cannot be a fair competition at all.

obviously there's other things that could be considered not fair, but imho the netcode is the ONE thing that makes or breaks an online experience. it's possible to exclude the so called luck factor by simply disabling the weapons, but you can't do anything against lag. if you have it, you're screwed.