You are looking at the wrong art Phil, go to a boxing or Muay Thai school and you will see real hitting. Btw, as a martial artist myself I don't consider karate a serious martial art and part of that is for the reasons you stated. Although I think there is full-contact Karate which is a serious art.

PS: If you are looking for a good martial art look for one where the training involves a lot of realistic sparring. IMHO there should be sparring almost every time you train.