Married with young kids and playing GT5? Please share your thoughts here.

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chippy001
I am a 32 year-old happily married husband and a dad of a 1 year old adorable girl. I also happen to be an avid Gran Turismo player, have been so since GT1. I arrive home from work every evening at around 6:30pm after which I spend like an hour or so playing with my daughter and feed her dinner. At around 8:00ish we put her in bed and my wife stays with her until she sleeps. The latter process usually takes around half an hour or so and it is only during this time that I get like half an hour of ‘me time’, which I, admittedly, happily spend on GT5:).

Obviously, half an hour later, once my daughter is fast asleep, my husband duties come into play, and promptly (not always:sly:) I turn off my ps3 and and go to have dinner and watch a movie or TV with my wife. Notwithstanding all this, with an average of one hour a day of play time (weekends included), I somehow managed to reach A-Spec level 20 and B-Spec level 14 but at this rate there is no way I can ever reach level 40, get myself an X2010 or take part in an endurance race anytime soon, if ever.

I am not complaining, mind you, not at all – as much as I love my hobby, I am fully appreciative of the fact that the intrinsic satisfaction of being an active father and husband significantly supersedes the short-lived, albeit huge fun derived from GT5, or any great game for that matter. The reason why I opened this thread is to see whether there are others in a similar situation out there who would like to share their thoughts and/or useful time management tips. Fire away guys!
 
Whoa! deja-vu :lol:

You just described my situation to the smallest detail, with only exceptions being that I'm six years older than you and my little girl still has couple of weeks until her birthday no. 1.

Man, I even have almost exactly the same A-spec and B-spec levels. Scary.
 
I work nights, and as such when I have time off work I am generally awake a stupid times of the day, when the other half and kids are in bed.

I have managed to do the first three endurance races over the past three days by playing early morning (5.00 am) before anyone else gets up
 
Nice post.
I'm 41 and a Father of 3. Agreed, it's flippin tricky trying to fit in gaming time especially when it's on the main TV. I tend to get up at anything between 3 & 4 am and get a couple of hours serious gaming in before leaving for work at 6.30am. Then some nights the wife will either watch her crappy soap operas in the bedroom and I'll take the living room or vice versa. I had a close escape the other day while racing as I had to pause the PS3 during an endurance race ready for when I return from work to finish racing. Only to call my wife and have her tell me that our 3 year old son had nearly hit the power button on the PS3 as he said it was switched on and no one was playing :scared:

Was a close shave
 
Next pay/performance review aim for 1 or 2 days extra holiday a year from work, don't tell the misses and have your self a GT day :)
 
My wife understands my hobby. I started video gaming in 1978 ( age 9 ) and been very hardcore ever since. Still own all the consoles along the way. My kids are 12, 13 and 22 years old. Two of the three also game. I have most all free days to game. Just something I enjoy and will do so for life. I have my own game room. As do the kids. So I can go on forever without issues.
 
Geze
Whoa! deja-vu :lol:

You just described my situation to the smallest detail, with only exceptions being that I'm six years older than you and my little girl still has couple of weeks until her birthday no. 1.

Man, I even have almost exactly the same A-spec and B-spec levels. Scary.
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My kid is not yet 1 too. She'll celebrate her first birthday in 3 weeks. Go figure!:) Do you manage to play regularly? It'd be great if you could share your experience.
 
Sometimes a pictures says a thousand words... :)

picture.php
 
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That looks so familiar, but usualy mine is saying "is it my turn yet daddy?" :lol:
 
jjaisli
Sometimes a pictures says a thousand words... :)

picture.php
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That's brilliant! Great photo!

I'm 32 and my missus' pregnant. In couple of months my playtime will shorten massively. So far I have couple of days off work and tend to play GT5 few hours per day :)
 
I used to be a very active gamer in my teen years (80s). But when I turned 17~18, I sort of lost interest. And I really still have little lust for most games--almost every title I own is a racing sim of some sort. But knowing how addictive it can be, when I bought the PS3 a little over 2 years ago, I promised myself that I wouldn't use it while my daughter was home and awake. There are obviously some exceptions. If I have a schedule meet with my 'clan' and the time is agreeable to my wife. But in general, I'm like the rest of you. I work long hours, come home (often) late, play with my daughter until it's time for her to go to bed. My wife and I take turns reading to her and putting her to bed in the evenings. And when it's my wife's turn, I head down to the basement. On those days when I'm not too exhausted. :lol: Oh how I envy people who can play for hours at a time.

The picture above was actually taken about 18 months ago. While she does occasionally ask to sit and drive with me, usually early in the morning on weekends, lately she's become a bit devious; sneaking up behind me and then shouting my name. And then laughs and giggles and asks me why I'm driving on the grass. She's going to be a handful when she's a teen, I can see it now. :nervous:
 
We have 5 kids together, me time is very important. I put the 2 youngest to bed at 6pm, spend time with the 2 older boys till about 7.30 -8pm 2 or 3 days a week, doing kits or playing games, and then its all GT5 till midnight. My better half is a chat host for a bingo site, so she does that most nights, other nights i come off early and watch a film with her or something. we both need our own relax time, and as she has mobility problems, and im her carer, spending every day in each others pockets can put a strain on the relationship if we don't each have down time. The 5th child is 7months old, and is pretty easy to keep happy. *look! a flashy light!*
 
YO JJ. What kind of wheel dose your daughter use? - It sort of looks like the new thrustmaster 500 but in Yellow.
To the topic: Im the father of two little peoples. Both is interested in dads toys. I think the best way to get some understanding for what you like to do Is to let everyone who wants have a go. Atm a ford WRC in the snow is my children's choice of fun.
 
chippy
My kid is not yet 1 too. She'll celebrate her first birthday in 3 weeks. Go figure!:) Do you manage to play regularly? It'd be great if you could share your experience.
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Not as regularly as I'd like to. Monday through Friday I only get to play 30mins to 1hr daily, if even that. Sometimes several days may pass completely without game time. During the weekends I usually manage to play some hours, but the racing marathons of my earlier GT years are long gone.

My wife understands my GT enthusiasm and she never complains if I decide to take a moment to play. Then again, she's doing such a wonderful job managing our household and taking care of our child while I'm away at work, so I don't really want to neglect her when I'm around. And even though I really like playing GT5, it's just a game. I choose the company of my wife and kid any time over it, and only when they're busy doing something else, I may decide to play. Sure, I'd like to play more, but as the hours of my days are limited, it's GT5 that usually suffers from this.

This also got me thinking about online racing one day. There's WRS starting again next year, and several other racing leagues arranged by other hobbyists which I'd love to take part, but I'm not sure if I can ever play the hours required to be competitive in those. Maybe we should start a new "old timers league", open only for those who have limited time available due to work and family related responsibilities. Races would be only like once a month and chosen track and car would be announced a month or so before the race, so everybody could have at least some practice :lol:
 
Hi guys

Not married... yet...

But I can see the perspective :P

Still long working ours, another hobby (slot cars), girlfriend to attend...

Well, I play mainly at weekends in the mornings and sometimes at a bit at night, long races take 2 or 3 days sometimes. So, my B-Spec is more advanced in the game then me... The worst part for me is that is impossible to pause the game in B-Spec mode, it was hard winning Indy 500 in B-Spec, the solution was watch a movie at the same time with an eye in my B-tards ;D
 
chippy
I am a 32 year-old happily married husband and a dad of a 1 year old adorable girl. I also happen to be an avid Gran Turismo player, have been so since GT1. I arrive home from work every evening at around 6:30pm after which I spend like an hour or so playing with my daughter and feed her dinner. At around 8:00ish we put her in bed and my wife stays with her until she sleeps. The latter process usually takes around half an hour or so and it is only during this time that I get like half an hour of ‘me time’, which I, admittedly, happily spend on GT5:).

Obviously, half an hour later, once my daughter is fast asleep, my husband duties come into play, and promptly (not always:sly:) I turn off my ps3 and and go to have dinner and watch a movie or TV with my wife. Notwithstanding all this, with an average of one hour a day of play time (weekends included), I somehow managed to reach A-Spec level 20 and B-Spec level 14 but at this rate there is no way I can ever reach level 40, get myself an X2010 or take part in an endurance race anytime soon, if ever.

I am not complaining, mind you, not at all – as much as I love my hobby, I am fully appreciative of the fact that the intrinsic satisfaction of being an active father and husband significantly supersedes the short-lived, albeit huge fun derived from GT5, or any great game for that matter. The reason why I opened this thread is to see whether there are others in a similar situation out there who would like to share their thoughts and/or useful time management tips. Fire away guys!
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i think this is the best thread ever .. got the same situation 34 years old with 2 boys, after i put them in bed have a hour or a hour and a half on gt then watch something with my wife but still in my mind thinking about what i gonna do with Bob still spinning around to much, etc..
 
Married with a four yr old girl. Mamma works this week and daughter is out of pre-K while daddy has a week off too. Yesterday we played for a hour or so. She sat in my lap and I helped her steer (Wheel strength @100% a bit much for her still) and did the pedals. I work nights so when the daughter goes to school I can get some wheel time in. Only had since Christmas so I'm a 16 in A Spec for the moment.....

As long as you are not neglecting your family I see it as all good. My wife was nice enough to let me play on Christmas which was the best! Otherwise I keep playtime to when they are not home.

Side note: back with GT4 I would hook up to a little 13" tv and sit it in the corner of the living room so Bob could make me some cash when it was family time. I think I won every endurance race that way!
 
I'm a father of 3. I usually get an hour or so per night after my wife goes to bed. The trick is just to not get too stressed about it if you don't get to play every day.

I got a Wheel Stand Pro and DFGT for Christmas, which the family all wanted to play with. My wife was quite annoyed that everyone wanted to play GT5 with the wheel rather than (as is usually the case) playing SingStar.
 
I have a two year and usually my wife and I take turns putting him to bed, after that we'll watch shows that we have recorded or a movie then if I'm not to tired I'll play GT5 for maybe a couple of hours.
 
38 years old and a father of two, the youngest is mentally disabled though so takes quite a bit of our time. I work 4/4 12 hour shifts so once i get home its time with the family and the PS3/360 never get turned on at all.

I do play a bit when i am on my 4 days off but mostly mine and my partners time is used to do anything that needs doing and hospital trips with our youngest.

Most of the time any gaming i do is very late at night when the family are sleeping.
 
You have years to get to whatever level you want in this game.
 
I have a 4 year old and a 4 week old baby. Very limiting on the gaming time. The best time for me is between 06:00 and 08:00, once the family are up there is no chance of getting out the wheel.
 
Marchbrown
YO JJ. What kind of wheel dose your daughter use? - It sort of looks like the new thrustmaster 500 but in Yellow.
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It's an Italian model--it wasn't too expensive but the build quality is a bit shoddy and it has no FFB. But it does the job. :lol:
 
Great thread! Lots of similarities in the stories...
I'm 29, father of a 2 1/2yo boy and with a new one to come O.O
As another one on the thread, I also use to race slotcars, but I had to let it down, for cost and time. (very sad...) Now I just play some GT5 when I have the time. I wake up about 5:40am and play till the time to go to work, one hour later. On the weekends, I manage to wake up at the same time, and play till my boy gets up, around 9:00am. A-spec lvl 19 / B-spec lvl 6.

@Blackheart_72 : very sorry to read about your younger boy...
 
I game similarly to blackheart. Once the family goes to bed it's my time and I'm allowed to do whatever i want :-)

My 13 month old and mom go to bed between 830 and 9 so I have till whenever to play, just depends how tired I want to be at work the next day.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys! It's great to see I am not the only GT5 maniac with very limited time slots out there. Keep on posting ! :)
 
Geze
Maybe we should start a new "old timers league", open only for those who have limited time available due to work and family related responsibilities. Races would be only like once a month and chosen track and car would be announced a month or so before the race, so everybody could have at least some practice :lol:
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That sounds great. How shall we go about organising it? I would defintely be game but I have no idea how to create an online league. For the previously mentioned reasons I never bothered touching the online part of GT5. Oh, can I add you as a PSN friend?
 
I'm 13...

I don't have kids, don't have a job, don't care about homework, or school for that matter, and play GT5 14 hours on weekends and 8 to 12 hours on the weekday!

I don't think I'd be able to bear having a kid eating up my GT5 time! :nervous:
 
The grinding in this game is beyond retarded, it really feels like playing a mediocre MMORPG at times (B-spec just adds insult to injury imho, did they seriously think I'd put up with watching the CPU play? wtf?).

I just ended up disregarding the GT-Life mode altogether (got to level 15 just with the licenses/events cause those were fun), birthdayglitch'ed the few cars I wanted and I now race in an online championship with friends once a week (and do like 10~15 laps a day on the weekly track to tweak the car set-up). Screw PD's flawed game-design (24 hour races without saves? yea right ,lol...).

EDIT: they should really release a "time saving" DLC pack with all of the cars and tracks, I'd be willing to shell out up to 5 Euro for it.
 
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