We tested some stuff with TFC and Teeds, and since I have been focusing on "grip the last few days I can confirm this.
The Deformation setting of the server influences the overall Grip of the track.
Grip offline = grip with server deformation on 1.
Server deformation on 0.7: less grip. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) we tried with 0.2 but it didn't seem very different from 0.7. We rode quite a few laps on each setting, enough for deformation to kick in sufficiently to have comparable ruts.
Now that's an issue, since I suppose all parameters have been chosen offline, yet most of us like to use deformation settings below 1 online to avoid trenches.
(until we have more information on this I strongly encourage all hosts - thanks again for hosting - to use a deformation setting of 1).