Yeah, the AI are fine in GTR (minus the whole "we don't know how to drive around you 90% of the time so we'll just slam into you" thing). Not really any magic AI cheating, most likely it all just comes down to your car setup, racing line, braking confidence, acceleration control/points, etc.
If you're not too confident with doing the car setups yourself, you can always load the Simbin setup, or go "online files" and download car setups on there. People can upload their personal setups and others can download and rate them.
As for DiRT 2... that game is ridiculously easy. Semi-arcadey car physics, so the driving part is easy.
![tongue.gif](style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
You just gotta be a little aggressive when racing AI, and keep it clean and fast in rally/trailblazer.
Look up at the track map often, too... it helps a lot.
You still didn't add me to Steam (as far as I know)!
EDIT: Which car were you using for the 2:27 at Porto?