With all due respect, you need to get off your high horse. Just because you've been gaming for a long time and have real racing experience doesnt mean you're smarter than everyone else in this thread and we're just a bunch of dumb gamers that don't know what we're talking about, which is the vibe you're puting off. No one in this thread ever said anything about this game being the most realistic representation of real life.
You started off by claiming that everybody in the top 10 on the leaderboards is fishy just because you're incapable of replicating their times, which is just an insult to those people who take the time everyday to practice and get on those leaderboards. You cite your many years of "real racing" as your validation for making such a claim, and gave us your upcoming schedule at Road Atlanta. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything unless you're implying that because you have real experience and you can't make the leaderboards you think the people faster than you without real experience are suspicious. Which is just ridiculous. GT Academy has proven capable of taking some of these top drivers and turning them into drivers capable of racing competitively in real life. There is a lot of extremely talented people on these leaderboards and you seem to not realize that.
Secondly, you stated the reason you can't replicate their laps is because your braking distance is off by 50-100m compared to the top people on the leaderboards, and you can't simulate even one of their corners. I just find that number you gave almost impossible to believe, and I will continue to believe that until you provide a clip to prove me wrong. You are either lying, or there is something drastically wrong with your game, or you need more practice, simple as that. And I hate to tell ya, but there's only a handful of people right now on these leaderboards that have this bug. Almost all of these laps you're calling fishy and incapable of replicating are 100% legit and a result of practice and skill.
Lastly, if this is just a "stupid game" as you put it, then why do you play it?