This was extremely insightful. Tom, if possible you should try to talk someone in NRS, like Hector or Boon about the 3D hitbox issue(if there is one), because, apparentely this is the main issue with the game. You made clear that, if the issue is real, you can't simply patch it, but would it be possible to fix it in a hypothetic "UMK9" version? because is just TOO soon to even talk about MK10, IMHO, i think it will(and should) take years before they announce a sequel, then we will probably stick with MK9 for a long time, so this randomness you talked about, should be investigated ASAP.
Anyway, i will be crossing my fingers so everything can go right in this EVO so the mk community can emerge stronger than ever after it.