Online multiplayer racing

Hi all.
Can anyone tell me why a lot of online cars with crazy stats like 3.7 handling rwd and 3.7 brakes and insane power out brake and out corner my cars with above 4.8 awd handling and above 5.0 brakes.
I’ve been playing for about two months every day, done a lot of tuning research and hours of tuning to think i have about cracked it to be competitive in c class to find myself blown away on straights and out braked and cornered by these cars.
Is there some kind of exploit in the game that i don’t know about or are some people just that good.
Cheers.

The handling and braking stats can be misleading, as they cannot account for one’s driving style.

For example, if you gave an experienced driver who prefers RWD two C-class cars, one RWD and one FWD, they’d probably set better laps in the RWD car, even if the FWD has better handling and braking.

Proof of concept: I have a Mk.1 Scirocco and a C1 Corvette, both C-class. They have near-identical stats (Vette=better launch, VW=better braking), but I’m WAY faster in the Vette.