G'day Zireael, read the throttle set up section in the manual, once you configure your throttle for the corners you will beat the AI - it's a piece of cake, truly
You have three buttons available to you, each one can be configured for a different speed. Once you have configured the game remembers these speeds, for each track and for each lane, so leave one button for max throttle for the long straights, then the middle button configure it so that you don't de-slot but go as fast as you can on the widest corners, and the third button, configure it so that you can go as fast as you can on the tightest corners. Do all this during a practise session. Then once done, you race for real, using those three buttons and swap between them during the race, no need to tap the throttle or anything. IE, if you are on a the long straight hold the first button, until you start getting close to the first big wide corner, then release that first button and press the middle speed button. The one you already configured for that particular corner.
Mate, once you read throttle set up in the manual, and do the practise and set up, its a lot of fun and you'll reach super high speeds, and beat those nasty AI.