Vector is definitely coming to the game, as there's traces of his name as a rival for some characters. He's not here right now only because he wasn't ready on time...but he's definitely one of those confirmed to return in the future for sure.

The tricks definitely get used more often in the later unlockable cups, so it is good to know what you can do with those- but people will also likely start experimenting more heavily with springs when the mapping tools roll out:

As a SRB2Kart mapper, I sure can't wait to do that myself.

Well, hopefully second time's the charm for ya- funnily enough in April 26th an update named v2.1 dropped not only that makes AI rubberband somewhat less, which has helped some get better grips with the Grand Prix...but also, Online/Addons/Time Attack get unlocked AS SOON AS YOU FINISH/SKIP THE TUTORIAL. In my case, where I took my 2.0 save to 2.1, it unlocked the time trial mode as soon as I entered the game despite that I hadn't completed the original condition.