(FORTUNE Magazine) – They're seldom seen in the U.S., but the Formula 1 cars that compete on the Grand Prix circuits of Europe, South America, and Japan are the world's most technologically advanced autos. F1 cars bristle with sensors, computers, and electronic motors that control the throttle, brakes, steering, and suspension. The electronics are so pervasive that motor sports purists now gripe that the cars have become ''remote-control racers,'' leaving drivers little to do besides steer around obstacles. That might not be a bad thing. F1 cars aren't your father's Oldsmobile: They weigh just over 1,100 pounds and consist of little more than a carbon fiber tub for the driver, four 15-inch-wide tires, and a whopping 700-horsepower & engine in back. Top speed is over 200 mph; in tight turns g forces can reach a neck-snapping 4.5. In their hunt for ways to get a competitive edge, F1 teams are toying with such exotic systems as ''closed-loop yaw-controlled steering,'' which keeps a car on line by sensing -- and overriding -- any imprudence by the person at the wheel. Some teams already use telemetry to transmit information from the moving car to engineers in the pit. Should the engineers detect a variation in performance, they can be ready to make an adjustment when the car comes in for a pit stop. If such a system were developed for consumer use, it might reduce accidents and save lives by identifying potential malfunctions before they occur. Several earlier F1 innovations have trickled down to a few high-end mass- production automobiles. Take active suspension, which the Infiniti Q45a also offers. When the car corners, for instance, a computer linked to electronic sensors keeps the chassis flat instead of allowing it to lean. F1 cars (and top-of-the-line BMWs) use ''drive-by-wire,'' an electronic throttle that regulates engine speed more precisely than the traditional mechanical linkage. Best of all, so-called semiautomatic gear-boxes in F1 cars combine the convenience of an automatic transmission with the control of a straight stick. Similar systems are available on several Porsches and the BMW Alpina B3. They make possible gear changes with minimal loss of power and fuel economy. The driver signals a shift by pushing one of two or three small buttons on the steering wheel: the right one for an upshift, the left one for a downshift, and the middle one -- on cars that have it -- for neutral. (The clutch comes into play only for starts.) Once the driver has called for a shift, the engine's computer takes over, changing the gears at the correct combination of engine speed and road speed. You may think you have it bad in freeway traffic jams, but before semiautomatics came along, racing drivers had to shift a manual gearbox several thousand times during a race. Now they can change gears going through a turn without taking their hands off the wheel. In passenger cars, the gearboxes could save gas by improving engine efficiency, reducing the one- to two-mile-per-gallon penalty you normally pay for using an automatic.