Nail on head mate.
That's why I think increasing payouts won't help. Some will always fall back on driving like that, many drivers aren't respectful at all and just do whatever they feel like and know to get a higher finish. And I don't buy the competitive nature of people. You can be extremely driven, ambitious, focused to win and be respectful to your fellow racers... same applies to most things in life. But you'll always have people that see things differently. I'm sure some may view being respectful to others and not doing everything possible to come out on top as weak or to nice....I don't agree with it, but certainly 'dark triad' type personalities put there who think like that.
I am (well was, until I got fed up with the penalty system) happy to finish 10th or wherever and know I've not spoilt someone else's race/experience. There's games like wrexkfest if people like getting physical all the time.
Only way I can see this significantly changing is by getting the pen system working much more accurately and effectively.
Yes you'll always have a few trolls, but many will just either be forced to adapt, or move onto something else, unless they want to finish low down the order every race.