I think we also have to consider how it would affect the player base if they started banning everyone who did questionable stuff in a hopper.
It’s obvious from running in the hoppers that the majority of the player base are just so-so racers, and some of them also race dirty. When you put a bunch of so-so racers together on a track for a short race it’s inevitable that some crashing is going to happen, intentional or not.
For the people who intentionally race dirty, many of them will feel like that is just “part of racing man” and that they should be super aggressive to win “because it’s just a game” or whatever. For those who don’t race dirty on purpose but are just not so good and end up making contact, they wouldn’t feel like they are doing something that deserves punishment because it was an accident. You start banning either of those groups and they are likely not to spend money on the next game.
While the above inevitably sounds a bit “elitist” or whatever, I’m not meaning to imply there is anything wrong with just being a “so-so” racer… Not everyone has the time to spend honing their skills or the natural aptitude or desire to become a serious racer. It’s to be expected that the hoppers will be largely populated by more casual racers who are just looking to have some fun for a bit after work or school or whatever.