I'm old. I imagine many of us have been around since the original wipE'out" on PS1, and I wanted to lay down some tips that might help those of us who aren't quite as quick as we used to be... (i.e. me). I managed to "Transcend" on HD/Fury, and this game hasn't been too difficult (actually maybe just a bit easier?). Still frustrating though, and any help is valuable if you're struggling with the speed. The upside to getting old is that you have more patience (and I happen to have some time off work).

Feel free to add your own tips.

Disclaimer: I've only just beaten the races on elite in the HD campaign. About to start work on Fury. I'll update this post when I (hopefully) finish it.

So, we can probably all agree that the main challenges in the HD campaign are all in Meltdown: the Chenghou and Sebenco single races on Phantom and the 8-race Phantom tourney.

SEBENCO: This was the toughest track for me. Tougher than Chenghou. Biggest two tips were:
1) I used Feisar. In my opinion, the only thing that matters in Phantom is maneuverability. Even with Feisar, you have to lead the turns on phantom a lot more than you think. I aimed to try to scrape the inside apex. After 20 or 30 laps of trying this, I was able to consistently pass the Elite AI in the turns.
2) Kind of a shortcut. If you manage to get a turbo in the race, save it for the part just before the tight chicane towards the end of the track. The track slopes up slightly here, and if you use the turbo at the right time, you can skip the whole chicane. You wouldn't think that this would help since, with the right line, you can drive straight through the chicane, but I always managed to get a few places by doing it. Throw on a barrel roll and you've got a nice, reliable timesave.

CHENGHOU: It's all about conserving energy here. I absorbed most items unless it was a turbo or autopilot.
1) You can drop off the side of the big ramp at the end, making it easier to hit the boost pad on the track below.
2) As with all races, sometimes you just get a bad AI spawn. If you find that 1st and 2nd place are consistently finishing multiple seconds in front of everyone else, just "Return to Grid" and get a new spawn. This was the difference in spending 30 minutes finishing 3rd vs winning on my first try at this track.
3) On the first section of repeating drops after the tight chicane, I did a barrel roll and aimed for the tip of the second drop-off, so I'd get the boost but wouldn't get launched into the air, making the next declining corner difficult.
4) The place to make up time is in the middle of the track, just before the big drop-off. Taking the turns tight here (see above) I was consistently able to pass the AI in the turns.

PHANTOM TOURNEY:
1) Open a large beer and relax.
2) You're always going to get mines when you're still in 8th place. You're frequently going to get rocketed as soon as you pass someone. And when you're in last, 7th place will always fight you to the death. Get used to it.
3) Now that you've accepted that, as has been mentioned before, you only need about 40 points to have a good shot at winning the tourney. The first couple of races (Vinetta K and Anulpha Pass) shouldn't be too much trouble. I'd argue that if you're having difficulty with these, you might not be ready for this tournament. I would usually get 1st or 2nd in these without too much trouble. If you're able to do that, try to win Metropia (next) and then just try not to get eliminated in Chenghou. You should be around 24-30 points here, in which case as long as you don't get eliminated, you've got a decent shot at getting the tourney trophy.
4) Phantom races are LONG. Don't give up and try not to get eliminated because of energy loss because there's a good chance 1 or 2 of the AI ships will die during the race - meaning as long as you finish, even if it's a terrible race, you'll get a couple of points even if you finish last.

Many of this has been mentioned previously, so forgive me, but hopefully these tips and the ones that follow will help some of us old farts! Good luck!