You're racing down the streets of Tokyo with seven other cars; the only driver left to pass is your rival. He's all that's standing between you and winning that $10,000 bet. Stepping on the gas you speed up to his bumper and stay there. He feels the pressure and loses control spinning out of your way. You can taste victory as you approach the last turn before the finish line. Hitting your boost you accomplish a perfect power slide and let out a raucous cheer as you speed across the checkered finish line.

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is one of those games that has a bunch of little frustrating things that take away from the overall experience, but is so much fun to play that you overlook everything else. So, to ensure your game-playing experience is as fun and exciting as my Tokyo race -- and not frustrating -- here are a few tips to keep your juices flowing.

As the name of the game indicates, boost, NOS, juice (whatever you want to call it) plays a big role in the racing experience. Knowing when to use your boost is a key to success. Hitting the boost on a straightaway seems obvious but using it in a turn can be the difference between winning and losing. Ever see the way NASA's Space Shuttle uses its thrusters to make exact, accurate movements? That's how you can use your boost to turn a tricky corner into a smooth one and keep your speed up.

Another tricky thing about taking corners in Juiced 2 is avoiding the tire walls. If you hit them going too fast you will bounce across the road and lose a lot of speed. Be careful when you come to a corner that has a tire wall and if you do hit it don't over-compensate when you're trying to straighten back out. Tire walls can send you from first to last in no time.

Speaking of going from first to last...that can happen in this game very quickly but, and this is true of most racing video games, never, ever give up. Take a deep breath, focus, use your boost wisely, run good lines around the track, and you'll find yourself caught up in no time. The other drivers in Juiced 2 are good but they make mistakes and can be spooked to move them out of the way.

That brings me to my next tip. Be really careful when spooking other drivers. More often than not they wind up crashing into you and both of you get wrecked. Sometimes you can time it right, so that as they are losing control of their car you are speeding past them. Other times, no matter what you do, they'll somehow send you crashing into a wall. That's something you'll have to play around with yourself to get the best strategy for you. I've taken to guessing what side they're going to and therefore hitting my boost to get by them as quickly as possible -- hoping that I've guessed right when making that guess.

Juiced 2, as in life, is a lot about money. You need money to buy new cars and upgrade existing ones. So it's a good thing the betting aspect of this game is fun and challenging.

I've found that when I make a bet on a race with another driver that particular will always wind up having the race of his or her life. It's one of those frustrating things about the game that I mentioned in the intro. More often than not when I've won a race that I've bet on, the driver I bet with has finished second to me and was often ahead of me during the race. Ways to avoid this? Well, it's not very sporting...but rubbing is racing, right?

When you advance to new levels you are told that you need to either buy a new car or upgrade your current car so it can race in that level. I've found that upgrading my current car is the best way to go. Not only can you save some money that way but you are already comfortable driving the car and comfort goes a long way to racing well.

As in Forza 2, Juiced 2 really lets you get creative in designing your car's visual look. Do the visual upgrades make a difference in your performance and are they worth the money? I really don't think they are, but then again isn't part of street racing having a really kick-ass looking ride?