Like many others, I also miss the ability to do written chat both in the lobby and in between races in Tournaments. For me, the excitement of racing online is closely linked to being able to communicate with the people I am racing against - and I find that that specific social component simply doesn't work in WOHD.
I haven't played Wipeout since fusion, so right now all the tracks and eye-candy will be keeping me busy for the next month, but long term the online component is what will keep me playing. I want to be able to somehow connect/relate to the people I meet online... I want to be able to chat about racing, work, other games, cars, books, movies etc... otherwise, I might as well be racing an AI (that usually is much better than me ).
Why Sony hasn't figured out how important communication is in online gaming is beyond my imagination. And I still don't understand why a headset is not bundled with every PS3 sold. Or why they haven't put money on the table and bought ventrilo, teamspeak or some other provider of low bandwidth multichat software.