Lotus 98T?! That thing is bonkers. With the boost turned down it's a bit more driveable, but with it turned up to max it's even more insane. Lag, lag, lag, lag.... redline, spin, crash!
Not sure if there was an old TT thread on here but I've only got the game fairly recently. Yeah I agree going for difficult to handle cars will probably reduce the numbers - in the TT thread I've suggested keeping car & track choice fairly sensible, that way as many people can join in as possible.
Good suggestion about one person winning every time... if that happens then we'll let someone else choose (the person in last?!).