It obvious (to me, anyway), that PD have bitten off more than they can chew with GT5.
I wouldn't mind betting that the 200 / 800 split was never intentional, I reckon PD had the full intention of having 1000 hi-fidelity car models.
I think the 200 / 800 split is the point when Sony turned round and said "enough is enough, release the damn thing".
It does seem strange, because Kaz is such a perfectionist, and I reckon he can't be happy at having 4/5ths of the available cars to a clearly substandard level.
Either that, or the 1000 cars was purely a marketing bullet point from the get go.
I truely hope that the 800 cars ripped from GT4/PSP are JUST the models / textures, and don't use the same sounds and physics, because if thats the case, we are then in a whole new realm of dissapointment.
Bottomline, GT5 will sell by the bucketload, regardless of what I think.