Let me start by saying the reason I'm posting about this is because I have in the past been the very cherry picker I now watch for.

There's nothing that worries me more than a couple of racers ranking 250 somewhere in front of me on the starting grid. From experience I know it is near impossible to drop below 300 unless you are trying. When I first started racing online multiplayer tournament I found myself getting frustrated a time or two and rather than trying to ruin everyone's game by being a crash troll, or doing the sensible thing and taking a break, I would see how low I could get my rank. Even stopping before the finish to let a racer or two go by. Then when I was at 180 or 250 and got a good start if I could finish first or second I would start my comeback.

Since running a bit higher in the ranks the only time I've run a race much below my true skill level it has been because of a couple of bad races mixed with a bad choice or two mixed with no good luck. But even on these, you just can't catch a break sort of rolls that we all know and fall victim to now and then, dropping much below 500 doesn't happen.

At this point I am not real set on trying to keep my rank as high as possible, but for those who are having a 300 finish in front of them can knock off a bunch of points. I have learned a time or two that if I want to keep that 800 + rank, there are some races that i might be better to punch out of early.