10 tips to help you win online in F1 2010

F1 2010 is out in the UK right now. If you haven't already read our review, do sohere. Or check out 50 spectacular smash-ups from the Xbox 360 versionhere. If, however, you're after some early tips for success in the game's online mode, you've come to the right place. Here are ten morsels of gaming wisdom guaranteed to boost your success against your fellow racers online, interspersed with some classic real-life examples. Good luck!

If it's been a while since you played an F1 game, you may only know a handful of tracks, or even one. If this sounds like you, set up your own lobby and make sure you only race on the circuits you know. If people don't like it, they can go elsewhere. You can also vote to skip tracks in Quick Race and it's entirely possible that other people will dislike the same tracks as you.

This being an online racing game, there is always a pile-up at the first corner. Always. So simply try not to get involved. Pretend to miss the green light on the start line, or get over to the very inside of turn one and stay there. Everyone else will move to the outside of the corner as they crash, leaving you free to drive on through the debris.

Above: There's always chaos at the first corner. Avoiding it and emerging unscathedis half the work done

It's a classic Nigel Mansell move but very useful online. If you're stuck behind someone and having trouble getting past, 'sell them a dummy' by pretending to go for an overtake on one side, before quickly darting back to the other. Be careful not to do this as they start braking, as you'll crash into them and cause all kinds of problems. Here's Mansell passing Piquet in the 1987 British Grand Prix - all kinds of awesome, only spoiled here by godawful commentary.

It may sound obvious, but it's genuinely good advice. Knocking into someone and benefiting from the incident will earn you a ten second post-race penalty, or worse still, disqualification. Don't even think about going the wrong way round the track – the game will ghost you out and disqualify you too. Avoiding people for the entire race will also yield a trophy/achievement for being a 'perfect gentleman'. Who better to learn from then French gentleman Alain Prost - watch how he falls back as Senna blocks him in the 1993 British GP until he finally gets his chance.Online racingon F1 2010 is exactly like this:

There's nothing wrong with switching on the stability assists in a public game. While sitting in the pits for the 30 seconds before the race begins, push start and make sure your ABS and traction assist settings are on. There's no point in going out in expert mode if no-one else is. Private games may have strict rules, but anything goes in a public race. Oh, and make sure the auto-brake is off. It's going to be impossible to overtake people with it on, even if it does mean you can stay on the road better.

Above: In quick race, this pit section seems pointless, but you can still use it to your advantage