Why is it that when I hit people with my car, they go straight up?

It used to be they'd fly in the direction I hit them. Now they just go up and I never see where they land to get my next hit. But it's usually behind me, so I gotta do a 3 point turn and by that point they've escaped.

I haven't seen many people talk about this change in Chapter 5.

Why did they change this?

Also does this count as a bug?