That kind of strategic talk is the sort of talk I've always wanted to see in a WipEout, and I appreciate your effort to see the fine details of strategy in HD. But unfortunately I have to disagree. There is no reason to pick Qirex or Auri in a race when you could be using Ica, Hari, or Feisar. Once someone in first starts weapon hoarding second that's the race right there. Slowing down in order to negate weapon-hoarding is not a winning strategy, by sacrificing that much speed your opponent will vanish ahead of you. No 5 lap race is long enough to allow you to regain that much lost ground. If absorbing was not in the game I would agree, but it is, and you heal more damage than you take.

Again I've never actually played Fusion, it just looks like my dream WipEout game: fast and using the Pitstop over Absorbing. Then again maybe I'm completely wrong and will get the chance to play it and will hate it. I have played 2097 / 64 though, and in my opinion it felt more balanced than HD, more exciting too since eliminations could happen quickly and easily if you made one good mistake. The difference between high and low shield energy also felt significantly different between ships.