A while back I encountered a discussion of "SBMM" in video games and some players not liking it. I had no idea what "SBMM" was, and the topic didn't clarify. I hate when people use acronyms without ever saying what that acronym refers to. In some scenarios it might be acceptable, like referring to "FM4" in a board specifically about Forza Motorsport. However, especially on boards casting a wider net, we need some indication of what those acronyms mean. Eventually someone filled us in.
Anyway, I don't play much in the way of multiplayer, so I don't have a lot of experience from which to draw regarding matchmaking in online play, but I thought of certain racing games that try splitting players up based on their skill and racing etiquette. I never played Gran Turismo Sport but was under the impression that it attempted to pair players with players of similar performance and penalized players for poor etiquette like crashing and cutting corners.
Personally, I'd like to see more racing games have similar ratings systems and pair players accordingly. I don't mean for every single type of racing game, like Mario Kart, but for more serious racing games where players should be driving professionally and sportingly. Particularly, I want players with a habit of acting like races are a demolition derby to be segregated from players racing properly.
This is an issue for some players that feel it's unfair discrimination, that those "rammers" are just trying to have fun. I get that. However, their fun destroys any shred of fun for the other players that don't enjoy mindless mayhem but instead bought a racing game for actual racing. If you have a lobby with twelve players, of which one or two are having fun by doing donuts, driving backwards, and playing bumper cars, those one or two players are having fun but at the expense of the other ten or eleven being robbed of their fun. Splitting players up based on behavior allows both to enjoy their time their way. The bozos that just bang around can still do that with other bozos, while the serious players wanting serious racing can have proper races without them being spoiled by Beavis and Butthead.
"Why is corner-cutting a problem? Isn't that a strategy to win?"
In some games, yes. It depends on the type of racing depicted. In professional motorsport, drivers are expected to adhere to the defined track limits, and cutting corners can earn the driver penalties or even disqualification, depending on the rules of the given series. For a game like Forza Horizon, corner-cutting is fine. Forza Horizon doesn't stick to roads anyway. For something like Forza Motorsport, Gran Turismo, Assetto Corsa, or Project CARS, corner-cutting is cheating.