The closest ive had to any sort of situation like this was when i a new group at a near by club got started we were all told to make our characters and gm had not told us about the setting or any restrictions at all nor could we contact him, so we all made our PCs (all core races with 1 drow) and the the GM got pissed off at us because he wanted us all to be human for an ancient roman/greek game.
However in other situations when ever a GM has put restrictions ahead of time ive never seen problems. In one group thats starting in a couple of weeks we've all been told we could only be human, sure some of us would like other choices but no one has a problem with it. In my 4th Edition game i ban all PHB 3 Races and no one has a problem with it.
Apart from the first example (btw that guy got ousted as GM long before the first session was over) I have never seen or had a problem with limiting racial options which makes me question what kind of people some of you are playing with.