AI Handicaps?

[Fire Yoshi]

So I was playing the Altezza Race with a decently upgraded Altezza RS200(J). I won the first three races pretty easily, as my car seemed to perform much better than theirs. But when I got to the fourth race, I noticed that the AI got faster, and ended up with a second place finish on that race. Finally, I get to the 5th race...and I get absolutely destroyed with a last place finish. The AI's cars got really fast out of nowhere, and I couldn't keep up no matter how hard I tried.
My question is this; does GT3 give the AI handicaps when you have a massive points lead in a championship to even things out? I personally think that's unfair and bs because I can't upgrade my car mid championship like that. =/

 

[Bopop4]

Check the replays from the 1st and last races.

I bet in the 1st race they are not giving full throttle.
(Go back and forth between you and an AI and see if the green accelerator bar changes.

Now do it for the last race.

I'm guessing that they are taking it easy on the 1st, and maxing it out on the last.