Okay to check back in on that issue, I've found that I'm pretty certain the issue is caused by the Waypoint Step Speed. I haven't really found anything that definitively explains exactly what these settings do.
I have found that the smaller the StepSpeed number, the faster the AI tends to go, to a point. If the number is too low, they will pull a Rahal and just dumptruck off the track. If the number is too high, the AI seems confused and is slower. The top number, StepDistance, again, not exactly sure how this works... but it seems to have a sweet spot. I've found that at 5.0 they seem limited to how fast they can go. At 6.0, they have the capability of going faster but take longer to learn the track. At even higher numbers, like 6.6 the AI has the potential for really fast laps, but they are few and far between mistakes and spins and struggle to finish AI learning.
StepDistance = 5.8
StepSpeed1 = 18.0
StepSpeed2 = 25.5
StepSpeed3 = 35.0
StepSpeed4 = 45.0
StepSpeed5 = 55.0
StepSpeed6 = 65.0
StepSpeed7 = 75.0
StepSpeed8 = 80.0
This is just an example and I would love to know more about exactly what these values do and how they effect the AI. For example, is this point speed in m/s? Also, I have been treating StepSpeed1-8 sort of like rally pacenotes. I've been under the assumption Speed1 is for slowest corners, Speed8 is for slight bends in the road. Does anyone know if this is correct?