You would be suprised what you can actually "beat" with good driving. The car is only a tool. If the other driver is slack, ignorant, too anxious, etc it is easy for them to make enough of a mistake for a well-driven slower car to overtake a poorly driven car that is theoretically quicker. The pony crowd set often looses a ton of groud simply because they get too aggressive with the gas/clutch/etc off the line and loose a bunch of time killing the tires. In running timed testing with a G-tech (and an ASR defeatable car) you can loose way over a second 0-60 with such antics. For the most part you want a hint of wheelspin for the first couple feet but after that you want those things helping you accelerate. (at least by the times I have seen with the G-Tech) The less dramatic way seems to be faster but that hold true with cornering as well. The smooth line around a corner is easier on the machine and quicker overall than threshold braking/powersliding/etc. (in most situations) Granted you can use tactics like that to correct a cornering line but if you are on the right line to begin with...

Just my opinion...Lee