Not having the weapons on changes eveything. As much as I get absolutely slaughtered on single races, there hasn't once been a Head to Head on the grid that I didn't get gold first time. And time trial goals don't seem to be punished by poor racing.

I actually had one yesterday that I was tempted to save the ghost for as it was quite funny - Phantom Outpost 7, I did a pinball impression from start to finish just bouncing off the walls and still got gold with 6 seconds to spare.

So as much as the racing skill of the opponents goes up with difficulty, the weapons fire seems to matter much, much more.