(Note: Please be gentle, this is my video game automobile racing diary and although it only began with Automobili Lamborghini and Beetle Adventure Racing I truly do love racing and the games it takes form in and this is my abridged diary.)

I'm sure most of us aren't quite as exaggerated as this. But that isn't to say that just like any normal person some of us don't have a bit of a temper. I get quite angry when the Nittany Lions or Steelers don't perform up to expectations, which unrealistically is almost always a respective championship. So when I take control of the team or vessel that has potential to be criticized, all hell has potential to break loose.



I didn't adopt the racing genre until I'd nearly finished high school so my early commitment to the Xbox meant I'd been forced into Forza and Project Gotham Racing. By Forza 2 I was brainwashed that this American upstart was poised to overtake the Japanese giant Gran Turismo. And although its a point of major contention, the two series are frighteningly close although vastly different in numerous areas.

After I'd rigorously played through the early stages of Forza 2's career I was ready for the next step. Endurance races. I'd heard mumblings of their existence from friends who owned Gran Turismo. But now was my turn. Tsukuba Circuit wasn't a long or difficult track and the class of cars its event invited was low. Perfect for my experiment. I never was quite good enough at Forza that I could avoid a mistake or two in the best cars the game had to offer. Sadly, or perhaps mercifully, I wasn't given the ability to handle racing cars and I was struck with the curse to only deal with the majority of production vehicles. I set off on a preliminary expedition to merely discover when I should pit to replace tires and fuel. To some this might seem rudimentary but for me it was a necessity for the upcoming challenge. Like studying game film or examining how Billy Mitchell works Pac-Man.

My race on Tsukuba turned out to be less than memorable. I can't even recall the car, likely a Mazda or Mitsubishi that performed admirably under my less than proficient commands. But I won the race without much fanfare, a gaudy nearly hour long race that exemplified commitment and skill. At that point of my video game racing career I was convinced, racing was simply a practice in avoiding the big mistake. For me it meant slower lap times due to earlier braking and later acceleration but as long as that meant I didn't have to reset a twenty lap race I was okay. And then GRID came along.



The wonderful thing about GRID is that it reminded me of one of my favorite experiences in racing, Apex. Apex ignored the bland, generally accepted idea that racing games should be about coming in first always and forever. It emphasized placing for the sole reason that you were advancing your young start up car company. Sadly the concept seems laughable now, the game was made in only 2003, but a new car company would be scoffed at by any onlooker. And sure the choices of car were extremely limited but the idea was fresh and exciting as if you had a hand in crafting an exciting future for the company that you made.

When I eventually stumbled upon GRID it was completely by accident. I'd removed myself from most racing games after Forza 2 when my disc eventually broke. But the allure of racing finally called to me again after intensely playing some Colin Mcrae Rally 2005. That game may have been ancient when I finally picked it up but GRID offered something fresh and new. A rewind system meant that those pesky mistakes that typically lead to a fresh meeting with the restart race option would happen much less frequently.

The option to rewind occasionally meant finishing the game wasn't intimidating even on the highest levels. The normally problematic extremely intense series of a half dozen cars flying around the track at 200 miles an hour plus became less intimidating when you had two chances to fix mistakes even in an endurance race. Sure Le Mans might go from night to day but I can move the sun back for just a bit if I have to. That fact is very powerful in my mind.



The implications of GRID would have never have meant much to me if I would have never decided to rent the new Prince of Persia. I wasn't overwhelmed by much of anything the game did. But the fact was that all anyone could talk about was how easy it was because you "couldn't die". The thought was laughable. Prince of Persia games had been annoyingly frustrating to me so the change was completely welcome. In fact I was perfectly happy for other games to welcome the idea. I just never thought that racing would be the next logical step.



Sure adjustable difficulty exists all over but who would have thought a simulation racing game would decide that unlimited resets made sense? At first I balked at the idea. I've driven endurance races God damnit! What is Turn 10 thinking! But the more I ponder and deliberate the more it makes sense. In reality we're all just looking for that perfect game. Whether its ninety minutes on a soccer field (pitch), a minute or two on that Pac-Man level, or a lap on Laguna Seca it all is the same thing. Sure there are purists that will debate the authenticity of it but last I checked you couldn't use rewind on online multiplayer matches or times so the grumblings are unfounded. So use those unlimited resets were unexpected but completely welcome Turn 10. We'd all like to be perfect but aren't quite talented to be. So we need those rewinds, that help to retry what we foolishly failed the first go. So while it may not be clean or pure it still is. And no matter how many rewinds it takes that lap time will always be impressive.