Where I stand

So to give you guys some perspective about my background with this type of game, I'll go back a bit, to...

Need For Speed SE

Heh, I can't even remenber how old I was playing that game. Dang I got hooked though, and from then raced every Need For Speed up through Carbon. Around 2004 or something I found Initial D and drifting, and that dragged my naive little head into the world of street racing.

I really can't remember the period when I bought my G25 steering wheel. I had played some Gran Turismo 3 and 4 by that time (at relatives house) and that was about it in terms of simulation racing. If I had to take a guess, I bought that wheel and GTR2 because I wanted a better game than Need for Speed Carbon, and GTR2 was the best out at the time.

Boy was that a wake-up call. In 2-3 weeks I learned more about driving for real than I had in probably close to a decade of arcade racing. I was falling off the track every which way, staggered by the lack of grip and speed (cause I was sucking horribly :)

Eventually I managed to win the first race in the first championship, after many tries, and only just....and that was it. I had learned a HUGE amount, but I was through. GTR2 had taken my head and stuffed it down the toilet, beat me up and hung me out to dry. For a while I didn't play any sim at all, went back to Need For Speed Carbon, and became #1 world fastest on several tracks.

Then I moved to Seattle for a brief spell at UW. To alleviate the boredom I bought a PS2 and two games...one of which was GT4. With the G25 it was everything I had imagined it to be and more, some of the most fun I ever had.

After 3 months I moved back home, and the PS2 went into storage (No way of getting wheel in front of the TV) but I was itching for more. An old friend I knew from the college automotive program had moved back into town and we got into contact once more, and to my delight he had TWO G25s AND playseats for both, AND a PS3 and GT5 prologue. Also, to top it all off, he was about as skilled as I was, so the racing was (for the most part) pretty intense.

Now though, I want to learn more. Steeling myself for the onslaught to come GTR2 went back on the computer. And the rest is still in the making :)

So there's a little history behind me and my passion.