Hehe, well Pure physics are probably more "Wipeout" than Pulse, yes. I can see why players from the older games (and Pure) might not like the way Pulse feels. I'm not really a hardcore Wipeout series fan (or of any other racing games), so that doesn't matter to me though. Pure has some cool tracks and a great atmosphere too.

But Pulse is the best!
It's definitely worth sticking with for it's feeling of speed (feels faster than Pure), balanced ship selection (yes, they're all good!), online racing, more reliable barrel rolls, and loads more.
Play both games - they're both amazing in their own way.