If you just make a replay of your first attempt you can just press F3 twice in cars and cabbies each 3 attempts or so. This cuts the replay to the point where F3 was pressed.
That sucks in SA though, because you have to wait for the replay to fade in while the game loads assets. However in VC, it's instant, so it remains a good solution in that game.
It's definitely possible to cut replays. You can do so yourself with an hex-editor if you know how.
This
. Still though, I don't think it's a big deal, even with some of the two minute replays out there.