I'm not that far yet but yeah, that's Mario Kart for ya.
POW blocks and Bloopers are minor annoyances at best anyway.
edit: I wasn't rating the game on the effectiveness of the CPU players to react and play like human players, I was rating it on the amount and variety of tracks in the game. The CPU players ganging up on you can be removed by playing it online, although that will undoubtedly be ruined by wheelies. Oh well, if you are a MK fan I don't see how you can't enjoy this game for the classic tracks alone.