I come from a Nitronic Rush background (http://www.speedrun.com/nrush), where we have a map "Gladiator" based on the Obstacle Course map in Rush 2049. In our runs of Gladiator, we're able to bypass the loop to save time (1st uses a slightly faster route along the outside of the map, this is 2nd and inbounds), but I don't see any 2049 runs doing this.

I was just wondering why it isn't done in this game? Does 2049 not have as much freedom of movement or control over the vehicle in order to let you make your way into the small gap, or is there some other reason?

Edit: Even this tas doesn't skip the loop.

Surely you can drive on walls; you have to in order to do the 180 rotations at the end, no? If there isn't enough speed after skipping the loop to jump the gap, then you might be able to go up the ramp and rotate onto the wall.