I agree that the penalty system seems to punish the innocent most of the time. I think the best thing to do is to either get rid of it altogether (at least significantly shorten the penalty times) or make it so that both drivers get penalized regardless of fault. As it stands right now it is basically a way for blockers/wreckers to keep legitimate racers from passing them and pretty soon the whole room degenerates into a dirty mess. Either that or you're fighting off 10 second collision penalties from running into the guy that starts his braking for the turn halfway down the back stretch. ^_^
Thing that bugs me the most is when I get penalized by someone who's "barely even there" ie, their vehicle is disappearing and re-appearing (right in front of me), causing me to get into accidents I simply can't control. Seems that PDI's programming staff need some remedial courses.