i've certainly heard the bitching in Burnout threads, and in Hot Pursuit threads. Hot Pursuit does it in a very strange way as it literally picks the cars up off the map and moves them up closer. you see them change icons on the mini map when it's happening. it's a bit disconcerting at first, but it doesn't seem to massively effect gameplay. if you race well, you'll rarely see the rest of the pack, unless you crash.
but there's the thing see, in Motorstorm i find it a lot easier to crash, and where games like Paradise can be forgiving even when you roll (land on your wheels and keep going), Motorstorm and it's 'self destruct button on the roof of your car' physics is not remotely forgiving.
you crash on that last lap and you're basically done.
based on what they said in interviews about the AI cars not doing anything you can't, i think they're probably making the drivers 'better' the further back they are, rather than out right cheating, though they could be fiddling with how quickly boost cools down (burnout games do this noticeably with how fast you charge boost when you're at the back).
some assist to keep the pack together is important to me in a game like motorstorm. that feeling of fighting against 15 other angry vehicles is a big part of what motorstorm is for me, but yeah, i could do without the whole 'make a mistake on the last lap = fail' thing.
I think it's amazing and much better than MS1. The track design is fantastic and varied like in no other arcade game. Some of those courses are just exciting to experience, let alone to race on them.
MS1 in that respect (course-design, and not cluttered) was much better imo.