tldr - clean or dirty?
you’re coming up to a corner, there are seven AI cars in front, you can corner-bomb to get past most of them and rewind to perfect it - or try and get past them cleanly
my choice is always to waste the drivatars because it’s fun - what do others do?
0 voters
nb - no non-AI cars were hurt during the making of this poll, ie, I always try to avoid collisions with other players in “real” races
I have all assists, including rewind, turned off. Rewind is great for onboarding people who have little to no experience in sim or simcade style racing, but it quickly becomes a crutch that encourages bad driving habits and will hold back the learning process of driver improvement.
I highly recommend turning it off. Even against the blatantly cheating AI, there are still lessons to learn and good practice to be had.
Neither option describes what I do. Mostly I just drive, acting like it’s a time trial. VERY rarely I hit the opponents on purpose if it’s 2% left to the finish line and I’m not first (picked a wrong car/tune or whatever).
Believe it or not, most contacts happen because they are trying to slow me down, changing lanes and then braking right in front of me.
If there’s a good yeet to be had, I’m always ready and willing to yeet them. They cheat mercilessly, why shouldn’t I have some fun too?
I love to hate the unbeatable AI and they do give me a good run for my money at times (CC anyone?!). If they play nice (it never happens…), I reciprocate. And I do waste the AI with an evil laugh. I actually go few steps further by taking pictures of my handy work. 
Note: Only in solo, I don’t race online.
What @Laberbacke said.
Maybe a bit less careful then Trial and sometimes do lean on them. Bomb the corner, nope. Rewind if I missed the checkpoint (now that I have to learn the tracks again).
The problem comes when people adopt that approach and then bring it into coop races as well. I’d add a slowdown in the single player mode for that sort of driving (even if one people could choose to deactivate), with a view to teaching good driving.
I have rewind always enabled and don’t think it hindered my learning process.
It’s especially valuable in Rivals to test different lines while having an identical starting spot.
In CC races the obvious line for a turn might not be the fastest if you take “turn + follow-up to the next turn” as relevant point.
Not as reliable without rewind.
OT:
I never slam into AI in singleplayer. In multiplayer it’s sometimes necessary to slow them down for the team.
Not only do I laugh evilly, I do so whilst twirling my rakish moustache. At race’s end, I quaff champagne and take their women from them. The following day I film a Brut 33 advert that will be drooled over by schoolboys who don’t yet shave.
As they say in California, “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and to hear the lamentation of their women!”
Ah, wrong game and thread, I have just been playing World of Tanks.
If I’m being honest, I also think rivals can hinder the learning process. There is one guy in my clan who is obsessed with rivals, and he’s easily our worst driver.
His ability to adapt to different cars and conditions is severely compromised, and his racecraft is terrible. The only thing he’s better at is identifying which cars are meta, which unfortunately is a skill in this game, and one that I refuse to learn completely. I still usually crush him when we race, and usually he’s the one with dirty contact.
I feel like Rivals is too static of a challenge. An essential game mode in any racing game for sure, but it doesn’t throw enough curveballs to flesh out a driver’s skillset.
I might be biased against it though. I know I personally don’t like rivals because it’s so static of a challenge. I prefer dynamic challenges. Street racing is my favourite race type in FH5, and I love tackling different restrictions on cars, including self-imposed ones like drivetrain. Rivals has very little that appeals to me.
I think the only racing game I’ve played where I actually do care about rivals and/or the leaderboard is Dirt Rally 2.0. But that leaderboard includes bad weather options. Even there though I care much more about playing career mode and the dynamic challenge of keeping my car together and balancing risk/reward than the leaderboard.
I generally drive like I would in an online race, because I certainly need more practice at that.
That doesn’t save the Freeroam Drivatars, though.
I see where you’re coming from regarding the bit I quoted, but I disagree with your assessment that Rivals can hinder the learning process.
Rivals is arguably the best way to learn a track and all its nuances. You can learn where the braking points are, where the apexes are, and where the fastest line is. This knowledge alone can be invaluable when you’re racing against other drivers.
It’s also a great way to improve your driving skills. As you focus on improving your lap time, you’ll learn how to brake more effectively, how to corner more smoothly, and how to accelerate more efficiently. Honing these skills will make you a far better driver in all aspects of racing, whether that’s looking for an elusive couple of tenths to eke past a rival, or racing against other drivers.
Just out of idle curiosity, what kind of times does he post on the leaderboard’s?
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User name checks out 
See I feel a track and it’s nuances change as you throw dynamic elements like different weather conditions, opponents in your line, or even car restrictions like FWD only retro hatchback (just a random example of the type of restrictions we race).
To his credit, he’s always down for our (sometimes whacky) restrictions and even suggests ones of his own.
He claims to be top 200 in a few races. I’ve never bothered to check, I don’t really care enough. I don’t think he’d lie about something like that but he is the talk-your-ear-off, boisterous type. On the other hand we do have a small but very talented group of racers, which does provide an excellent learning environment and motivation to get better. I’ve been top 500 global on leaderboards in a few games, and that’s often just the time I post while working through the career mode of a game. I never really chased that goal. So him claiming to be top 200 in a couple races in forza isn’t too far fetched.
I think that they find the static challenge appealing, of which chasing that “perfect lap” is a part of, yes.
And you’re right, I’m much better at the driving consistency than the driving perfection.
I do think that there are other factors, like the fact that he’s an “adjust the car to the driver” type of driver/builder/tuner whereas I’m more of an “adjust the driver to the car” style. But overall I think you’re mostly right.
PS “adjusting the driver to the car” doesn’t mean I don’t make any adjustments on the car, it just means that when build restrictions limit my ability to build/tune quirks out of a car, I’m much better at not only adjusting to them, but finding ways to maximize those quirks into an advantage.
Whether top 200 is any good in FH5 really depends what events are being ran. For example, top 200 at a C class cross country event using a Scout could easily mean you are 10-15 seconds off meta pace in some events I would think. Conversely, if it’s top 200 in A class HMC then that’s pretty good.
I think I’d say running rivals can’t really “hinder” you. Ultimately, if you “get gud” at that, then the lines etc you’ve learnt will serve you well in P2P racing. However, you won’t learn the racing skills - when it’s safe to nip down the inside into a corner etc - which can only be learnt in the dynamic conditions you refer to.
I will be honest – I am one of those players, where if I am not in top contention to win, I do my best to uhh, “clear the way,” for my teammates of the bots so we may obtain the most available points.
Oh for sure there are skills that can be learned in Rivals, I was just pointing out that there are essential driver skills that can’t be learned there. It can’t be the sole path to improvement for a driver who wants a full skillset.
Personally I feel like everything that you can learn in rivals can be learned in other modes, but I can understand how maybe removing a lot of those dynamic elements and focusing on one skill at a time could be helpful to some as they try to improve.
As for my friend, he talks a lot about A class Bolo Ocho. Not sure if that’s one of his top 200 times but it’s definitely his most ran rivals.
Edit: I do stand by the idea of rewind being a crutch though, even in rivals. It’s harmfull to building driving consistency once you reach a certain skill level.