Wow thanks for the detailed explanation, makes a lot of sense!
I've been rebalancing things a little to increase damages, as going full-on bumper-cars should never be a valid strategy, which could also play a role in that problematic.
In any case, I'm taking notes! Maybe I could cheat the physics at some point to make the cars go more sideways on collision, to even things out a bit.
And you can rest assured, they don't hate you that much ;)