It seems that with the new update Wipeout HD got with the add-on, they have also added in advertisements. That in itself is not so bad. What makes this horrible is that they increase the load times on purpose so you have to watch the complete ad for some auto insurance company you couldn't care less about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX4f9zts6JM
They even have the ad download, so you see it when you play the game OFFLINE as well as online.
I love me some Wipeout HD, and I was thinking about picking up the expansion, but if they're going to pull this, I may think again. Decreasing performance of a game so you can bombard me with ads? I just want to punch something really hard right now. If someone's done it, expect to see it in the future...

Given that it's Sony that both developed and distributed that game I don't think this kind of scummy behavior should come as a shock to anyone.

Yeah I saw this, thats pretty fucked. Is wipeoutHD a paid game or free?
If the latter its fucked up but borderline forgiveable, if its paid then they're nothing short of greedy pricks

The game cost me $20 when it came out. The expansion is $10.

I forget where I read it (Probably somewhere in Kotaku Australia), but the company said that the ad partnership they formed fit right in with Wipeout's style. I mean, advertising has been in many Wipeout titles, but never added this far after the game came out, and with something that prohibits you getting to the game faster.
EDIT: I'm beginning to suspect the validity of this video. Comments in YouTube are suggesting that this video may be doctored. They're saying the load times are messed with, and that the bottom screen never loaded that fast before.

I've tried several times to write a well-thought-out, eloquent comment about this, and all I can come up with is:
This is unacceptable.
At least it's not every single race, though.

Hmm, maybe they thought just adding some thump-thump sounding music to their ad would make it fit in.
Yeah, the advertisements that were in the past games never really stood out to me (of course the Red Bull ads were before the drink became popular here).

Now I'm really starting to think that the video's gone through some tampering. I've played Wipeout HD numerous times, and I don't remember it loading as fast as it did on the bottom of the screen, and I'm almost positive that an add-on wouldn't speed up the process.
In fact, watch the bottom screen. The loading bar never completes, yet it snaps to the game instantly! That has never happened for me. It seems like he took a small chunk out of the video. The ads may impact load times, but I think this video may be exaggerating the effects.

Ooh, nicely done! Is there any chance of you making a video response?

Would it have anything to do with restarting the same race over and over? (I don't have the game myself so I wouldn't know.)

If I had the equipment to record PS3 footage properly, I would do so in a hearbeat. Although this is bothering me enough that I may just take out my camcorder and film my TV while it loads. That actually might help prove that this guy is full of crap, though I'll need to film to make sure that I'm right about this tampering.

I'll get back to you on that, though I'm pretty sure that restarting the same race over and over does not impact load times.
I'll actually have to buy the expansion in order to replicate his conditions. I think it'll be worth it, since
A) I hate it when people try to create false impressions
and
B) More Wipeout HD = more fun in my book

All the major outlets are covering this -- I love it.
I'd advise anyone opposed contact Sony.

Well after looking at some other random Wipeout videos I've seen loading times that were much shorter than the advertisement so unless the ad just cuts off at the end it will increase the loading times.
Also, this person's load times seems to jump as well.
But now after watching all of those videos I really want to play Wipeout!

Wipeout is extremely awesome. Think a futuristic Mario Kart, with no blue shell and some of the slickest visuals you can find.
I can confirm that the video has been doctored. While the load bar does jump near the very end all the time, I could tell just by watching on its' own that normal load times are longer than what the bottom screen showed in the video. The video matches more closely to the load times when you reload a race, but is far off when a race is loaded for the first time.
The ads do lengthen the load times, and while I'm very angry about that, they don't happen often enough for me to throw my HDD out of the window. I wish they would just put billboards in the game. That would make perfect sense, as it's already about sponsored racers zooming across a televised race track.