The point is reasonably simple.
In F1, where the amount of data and options for variance are routinely much more than most of us are able to pay for, there is no two drivers who set up the kart identically.
More, given the way in which people drive, what ought to work for some drivers doesn't. At the highest level some drivers can do things that others cannot. One might point at Casey Stoner riding a Ducati in a way that Rossi could not duplicate, yet no-one would claim either is notably the superior driver.
As to kart seats. I found that to prevent damage to my ribs, I had to fit extensions to the upper corners of the seat. (Tillet sell them as rib protectors, different from the rib protection you wear like a waistcoat). It seems that when one moves in the seat, some people move forward and up, so that when they come down, the edge of the seat goes into the side of the ribs. The 'ears' prevent the edge digging in. It works for me, others complain they get in the way.
Weight distribution. There's dynamic and static distribution. Static distribution can be set up to a millimetre and still not work. The reason is that everyone moves as they drive. The average head weighs 7kg, and moves around by as much as a foot. One needs to set the kart up not for the position you are in the pit, but the position you are at the corner. That includes bracing yourself on the steering, leaning forward or waggling your head. It also means that you might need to change position during the year as you change position as your fitness or simply time in the seat changes over the year.
Hardness or softness. We know that karts react differently according to the way they are driven. One can arrive in a corner at exactly the same speed as another person, but one kart can be notably faster through the corner entirely dependent on the way the brakes have been applied before the corner.
Hard seats and soft seats allow the transfer of forces in different ways. They may seem trivial here, but they apply forces in different ways, even in the amount of driver movement they allow.
We also know that different drivers drive differently, That what suits one does not suit another. So it really isn't surprising that people applying different forces to their karts should find that different seats make a difference to the handling of the kart. Only if one can drive in a manner exactly like another driver, can apply the same forces in the same way would you expect the answers to be the same.
The answer is, some people find harder or softer seats to work. While broadly eh same principles apply to all of us, we don't exert the forces on the kart in the same way and so we should not expect the kart to respond identically. Yes, one expects a kart to be consistent, if you apply the same force in the same way it should give a predictable response, but when the force is applied in a different way one would expect the results to be different.
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