Well, I got lucky. I told a friend of mine who was on a business trip to Japan last week to pick-up a couple of F1's, if he could find them. I didn't expect anything since they just came out but, lo and behold, he surprised me with a McLaren and a Honda today.
Of all places, he found them at a Toys-R-Us somewhere in Tokyo.
I've just opened the McLaren box and after a little "reading between the lines" of the instructions (they're in Japanese, of course) got it running without any trouble. I was running the little McLaren on my linoleum kitchen floor. This is my first Digi-Q (well other than the tanks) but this baby is more than fast enough for me!
With the proportional controls, it's going to take a little practice to get used to driving the F1 but it was cool! If I wasn't careful in the turns, I'd spin out but there's a lot of room for driving practice, on my part.
Again, I just started playing with the McLaren but my initial impression is favorable but it may just be me. They don't appear as fragile as I feared but I wouldn't go bouncing them off of the walls, either.