The tracks in the singleplayer (at first) will be interrupted for tutorial purposes, showing you how to move and create havoc. After a while you will be asked if you want tutorials, and after that, it's pure mayhem-fun ;)
So don't worry about all that. I had a friend play the preview version with me for a while, and it took him three laps over one track to get used to basically all the required skills (aside from drifting)