In terms of having some sort of "equaliser", or handicap for players at the back of the pack, I think it'll become very frustrating for good players.
I used to play Ridge Racer, which had that very option (defined by a 1-3 star rating) and found it was very unrewarding for those players that had put hours into learning how to play the game better than the next guy.

What makes this even more annoying is the seemingly "Random" grid positioning at each race start. There doesn't seem to be ANY logic in it whatsoever as far as i can make out.
I entirely agree. It would make sense, in a tournament, if the leading players would start at the back of the grid (this would, in my view, pose a fair challenge to all players) but I suppose if it's random there can be no complaints.

Typhy

P.S. I know the issue with having to wait 50secs before the next track loads has been said many times before, but I actually don't mind it - seems a perfect opportunity to go a make a nice cup'a before the next race.