I just play F1 2010 and I´ve no big problem with crash boys. There are two different kinds:
"Crash kids", you mean.

- People who can more or less drive but lacks awareness about when to pass or yield. These are easy to handle most of time. If they are behind you, brake as late as you can and you´ll hear them brake even later... let that smoking thing through, turn in, and you´re ready to go. If they´re ahead, don´t get desperate. They´ll go off sooner or later, and if they don´t ,it´s still easy to get alongside. Repeat that late braking, they´ll try to brake even later, and good bye. Never get alongside in the middle of a long corner: they don´t know where other cars are, and they use all the track even if there´s other people there. Racing this guys will make you develop a healthy habit: check your mirrors VERY often.
I cannot understate how useful the rearview mirror function is in any racing game. If you using the mirrors will allow you to see a car behind you,
use them. I only ignore my mirrors when everyone else is so far behind that I can't see them--otherwise, it's useful to know what your opponents are up to even behind you. Watching one of them overshoot a braking zone could translate into the knowledge of a psychological advantage.

-Morons who are there to crash. Easy to spot them. When the red lights secuence start, you´ll see them turning the wheel from lock to lock for no aparent reason. Just stay away from them in turn 1, you wont see them again.

I don´t know why, but the better I get, the less problems I get with this guys. Now I find easy to know if I´m racing a guy I can trust after a couple of corners watching him.
Understanding psychology in racing will give you a massive advantage over your competitors. With experience, it's easy to determine what sort of players people will be after observing their actions a few times. Racing is an extremely aggressive and mentally-demanding sport, and the fastest way to beat anyone is usually to undermine their confidence. I find that for non-aggressive racers, consistency is your most lethal weapon--when people visibly give it their all to stay ahead of you and see you approaching behind them in spite of this, they eventually become more and more prone to mistakes, as they either get nervous or push too hard. If you're racing a game like Mario Kart, you can also demoralilze even the most aggressive racers with strategic/skillful item use. Sometimes, all it takes is one quickly-deployed, on-target green shell fired in reverse and they'll usually get so frustrated that they compromise their own race through the 'red mist'. On sims, a good blocking move that results in someone going off-track of their own accord typically has the same effect.
It must be a great feeling starting a race knowing you can trust the full grid... console players will never get that I´m afraid.
Console gamers can get that--it's called AI racers.

Good post, and I agree with a lot of your points. I'm still a firm believer in etiquette over aggression when you're racing with strangers, though. If they decide to take it up a notch with impolite racing, I'm always prepared to fight back (especially on Mario Kart

), but it takes too much fun out of it when you/somebody else decides to intentionally race like an idiot (intentionally ramming people off the road), if you ask me. At that point, it's almost as if winning has become too important to you, and you're not racing to enjoy
racing anymore.