I remove what I said about the AI being fine in the dry. First place 90% of the time just has a better car, even when the cars are the same, with the same class and number and everything else.
They can brake later, accelerate faster, have a higher top speed, turn better. I tested multiple times in free mode now, it's baffling. It's not like if you put the difficulty higher they are using perfect lines, no mistakes, etc. The car is just better, even when they are supposed to be the same.
Funny thing is, this mostly happens with first place, the rest (2-20) usually are decent / balanced, while the last two/four (21-24) are ridiculously slow.