@Hellfire:
I'm a brand new 41-year-old, married-with-kids Wipeout HD player from Edinburgh, Scotland.
I discovered this forum whilst searching for a tutorial on how to play the game.
I have just finished reading through your online FAQ and I have to say that it is, without doubt, one of the finest game FAQs I have ever read - total kudos to you for the effort and pride that you have obviously put into this.
I have also just finished watching the beginner's video tutorial and that too is an outstanding piece of work.

PS - I love this game - wish I had picked it up for my PS3 ages ago. At least something good has come out of the PSN outage!