Why I don’t Buy Into the Racing Genre

Ever since Cruisin’ the USA was removed from my local Rudy’s Tacos and the outdated N64 fell behind the console revolution, I have not subscribed to any of the “realistic” driving games. There are many, many different suppliers of these games: Forza, GRID, Need for Speed, Project Gotham Racing and Burnout Paradise all had their glory days. They all based off the same basic elements for a “good” racing game: realistic traction and handling, sweet cars you’ll never, ever afford, the feeling of actually being an accomplished driver and the belief you actually know stuff about cars.

Racing games in general have never thrilled me, except for Crash Team Racing and Pod Racer: Sebulba’s Revenge. Not only are these games creative and fresh, but they don’t take themselves totally seriously and allow for good old fashioned, mindless fun. The driving simulators of today try so hard to be realistic, they actually become harder than real life. They’re not fun, they’re frustrating and they have caused a very aggravating intrusion on my personal sanity

Ever since my friend, who shall remain nameless, and his cronies got their mitts on Forza, all they talk about is how awesome the cars they see on the street are. They even throw random stats, which for all I know they’re making up. They talk about how they’d spruce up their cars and be professional drivers and have actually gone so far as to attempt some of these maneuvers. The game made them car snobs. They literally would sniff at the cars normal people drive and put people down for their opinion of nicer cars. Oh, yes, the ungodly amount of time that you put into your VIDEO GAME makes you an expert.

Not only are the games repetitive, redundant, and full of the same crap over and over, but they make people feel like they know all about the auto-industry, and my inner cynic just can’t live with that. The only fun racing games are when you get to throw banana’s and explosives at the competition while utilizing outrageous booster packs and unlimited quantities of NOS. So please, if your only point of reference in the automotive world is a video game, don’t even talk to me about it.

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