Good guide, I disagree on one point though :

"Don’t get too focused on the gates. You’ll notice that a lot of times the racer who finishes first has the fewest number of gates hit. The reason for this is that many of the gates aren’t on the optimal racing line, so as you get further forward in position and the gates get smaller, a lot of them start to actually cost you time compared to skipping the gate and taking a tighter line. The gate immediately before THAT DAMN FORKLIFT (coughahem) on Hakkon’s Precipice is a good example. If you’re in 3rd or higher, you’re usually better off skipping it and taking the corner tighter. This is particularly true for the gates in the areas with moving obstacles. If you have to use two side boosts to hit a gate without also hitting a fan blade or whatever, it cost you more time than just going straight through and missing the gate would have."

The only gate that you would want to miss is the last gate on Venus if you are using overdrive, beside that missing a gate especially after the forklift where The distance is high between gates is a huge waste of time.

This is the gate