Yes, you're playing with a load of people in global events, but you're not racing them directly in a synced-up head-to-head fashion. You're just trying to beat people's already set times, while seeing other people trying to do the same. It's basically Trackmania. And while there's nothing wrong with that (it's a great addition to the series), people also want actual head-to-head races. Nobody is saying such a mode should replace the global events; they are quite different ways of doing multiplayer, and having both would have made the game's multiplayer offerings more complete.