Here`s my answers to your debating points, Max.

1. Didn`t realise there was no multiplayer eliminator. Would have been a nice novelty for me, but won`t particularly miss it.
2. I thought the AI has made great strides, certainly racing faster and more realistically than Pure. It may or may not be too rough, but the way they race as a pack feels real enough.
3. Haven`t raced enough tracks to comment yet, but I like them all up to Amphiseum.
4. I`ve had some freezes logging off the in-game browser, but that`s the only time.
5. Online it shows you the tournament races once you`re in. Would be nice to have had some preset tours, like Alpha, Beta etc, but not a biggie.
6. You can keep the bitmaps of the skins offline through the copy and paste function.
7. I think the Leech Beam rocks. It doesn`t steal too much energy, and getting a lock on the leader, then sucking out his life force with your purple tentacle is too much fun. Getting leeched isn`t fun, but picking up a turbo, shield or mines and getting rid of a leecher is great.
8. I like the menu, better than I could do myself.
9. At first I wasn`t sure about Mag Strips, but I really think they`re cleverly implemented. They give some wow moments, and the cutting down on Barrel Rolls with them is a good thing. Overall the way the impact of Barrel Rolls has been cut down is brilliant, I think. I love the half track mag-strip on De Konstruct, a nice idea. There are individual places where I might have preferred to fly free, but that`s just small points of track preference.
10. There must be some reason why this happens in AI races, maybe it was too hard to fix. I can live with it.

Overall I`m just loving the game, and taking it very slowly. The only thing I would have seriously done differently is to make the handling less sensitive on the nub, but that`s probably just me and I`ll get used to it, or develop some new skills somehow. I think maybe I liked Pure`s handling more, it was totally wild. But it`s too early to say, in fairness, and I haven`t raced fast classes yet. Pure was a dead duck until you reached Rapier - then it started to go nuts.