I bought Hot Pursuit a couple of days ago from the recommendation of Giantbomb, it had been mentioned many times on the podcast and through the TNT. I've enjoyed what i've played of the career, but I've found the online to be incredibly frustrating and aggravating. Most games I get into have the racers drive really, really slow, swerving in and out, frustrating the police. This sucks, this isn't fun, and it leads to me rage-quitting most of the time. The rubber-banding used against racers also seems unbalanced, but i'm not sure if that's my racing skills coming into play. When I race I go straight for the finish line, I had assumed that this was the point of the game, am I playing Hot Pursuit completely wrong?   
 
I had been under the assumption that online play was the bread and butter of Hot Pursuit...

I don't really understand your problem.  Are some of the racers running defence so that another racer can win?

I don't understand what you're talking about either. As a cop, I'd be delighted to see the Racers "drive really. really slow", because they'd be easy kills. 
I think the rubber banding can be annoying sometimes, but it's all in the best interests of the game. I wouldn't be much fun running from the cops, if you'd only see them in the first 10 seconds of the race. In the end, the best racers are rewarded for driving well. Even with the rubberbanding, I'm usually able to outpace/outsmart other racers due to my driving skills.

I might get this game when it gets really cheap. Is the ge any goo without the online stuff? I rarely play games online and its almost impossible to get together withy friends. Is it a good game on it's own or does the muliplayer make it good?

I like the online, but I suck at it. Also, I get into a lot of laggy matches which ruins it.

" I might get this game when it gets really cheap. Is the ge any goo without the online stuff? I rarely play games online and its almost impossible to get together withy friends. Is it a good game on it's own or does the muliplayer make it good? "

It's great against people I know, and I've never ever been able to connect to a public matchmaking game. Doh...