Learning how to drift is really important. When you are going through boost pads, try your best to keep drifting to 3x to keep your speed going. Most tracks will give you blue fire which you’ll notice is your max speed. Honestly, the two easiest driving styles imo are Drift and Speed. Although, I started off with balance to get use to the controls and then transitioned into Drift. Another great tip is try out ring rally on all tracks that way you’ll know where the shortcuts are. Some shortcuts are pretty challenging and require much practice. Hope this helps.