The risk of piracy is that, if enough people pirate instead of purchase, it becomes more difficult for inventors and creators to make a living, and so we all may lose access to their potential future inventions and creations.

To beat on your poor car analogy some more: if copying cars was free and easy, then we would indeed have a lot more cars, but they'd all be 1930s VW Bugs. Competition drives innovation, but there has to be something to compete for, like our dollars.

To your last point: the top torrents at TPB are all video games, TV shows, and movies. Seems more like self-worserment, yuk yuk.