VPI Classic platter - is center milled?

Wow. That seems like a poor decision on VPI's part. IME rubber mats suck. It makes no sense to raise the middle section so you have to use their rubber mat. Now if you want to use an aftermarket mat, it has to go on top of the rubber one. Or if you like the sound better directly on the aluminum platter, that is not even an option now.

It's the gasket that is causing your problem. The gasket is
for use with the center clamp only. It's only useful if you
don't have the outer ring clamp. If you screw down the center
clamp enough, with the gasket underneath, it will flatten out
the record. If you screw it down too much it will dish up at
the edge. If you have an outer ring clamp, and a center
weight you should not use the center gasket.

By gasket, I mean rubber washer for use with the screw down clamp. I am assuming this is what Abp689 is talking about? I can't imagine the platter would get through quality control if it was that bad on it's own.

That's strange. When I had my Classic 1 with the previous aluminum platter, the VPI outer ring worked pretty well on warps. I'm not sure why the new platter with the rubber donut would be different. How tall is the donut? Maybe it needs a little more height so the label recesses more? How heavy is the ring clamp? Are you using the center clamp or weight as well? The VPI ring clamp I had was a good 4 pounds and flattened most records pretty well.