The Corvette C5 holds a especial place in my heart. I could write a whole essay about it, but to keep things short, when I was a kid GT2 and NFS3HP were pretty much my main information about cars. For some reason, out of all cars in NFS3HP the Corvette C5 was my favorite. The game had Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Jaguars, one Aston Martin, two Mercedes... and yet, my favorite out of all of them was the Corvette, especially in red.
NFS3HP was my first NFS game and my 2nd racing game, right after GT2. Everything about it was just so mesmerizing: the funny tracks, the music and the police chases. The game had a "GT-style" menu talking about the history of the car and a bunch of real photos.
I remember booting the game just to hear the music while watching the slideshow. I really thought the C5 was the best car in the world simply because in my head it was the most beautiful car. The interior was cool as hell at that time:
To make it even more especial, around 2001/02 I was with my dad near a place that had a lot of dealerships. It was my first time there and I got to see unusual cars, they weren't especial or anything, just different/more expensive. However, everything changed when I saw this one. It was the very first time I got to see an actual sport car:
Silver, convertible, low and extremely beautiful. I remember my dad laughing way too much because I couldn't contain my excitement. "Dad, did you see that?!! It was a Corvette!!!"
Gran Turismo 3 had the Z06 and the C5R. When I got to play it I didn't even knew about the racing history of this car, I was just happy to drive both of them.