Offtopic, but I've heard from reading the GameFAQs forums that you are a damn fast racer packetmon!
And I'll be in the same spot as you - I need to wait for my finances to settle out in college before I can even entertain the idea of a PS3. And if you're waiting for Pulse DLC, you'd be better off finding someone who's willing to lend one of their five downloads to you rather than waiting for a US Store release. Because that'll happen sometime this never.
Back on topic, Wipeout Pulse is still fine to play without the use of barrel rolls. It's just more challenging on Hard difficulty.So I'd be fine racing either way.