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There are moments where I'm reminded that racing games are my favourite type of games. Such a feeling struck me today during a couple of online races on Brands Hatch GP. I didn't think that the race was going to be all that special initially, considering there were barely any requirements except the car class (Gt.3), but it ended up being my most intense GT Sport experience yet.
I quickly discovered that there were two guy who were constantly battling for first position, way ahead of the rest of the field. I joined mid-race so I spectated for a while and became witness to this glorious battle. They switched position on numerous occasions and their cornering technique became more aggressive the more laps they put in. It sadly ended with one of them going wide on the second last corner, which resulted in a spin when the wheels touched the grass. But they thanked each other for the race afterwards, in true sportsmanlike fashion.
When I eventually joined the practice for the next race session I was totally focused on trying to keep up with their pace, as they yet again took to the front in an intense battle. But oh boy did I have a hard time trying to achieve that goal. They completely outperformed me on the straights which put my cornering speed to the test. I was driving the Subaru WRX so I knew I had the car to be somewhat competitive in corners. But.... it just never payed off. Before the end of the second lap they were nowhere in sight. My only evidence of them still being in the race was the arrows on the map, and their constant lap records that centered on the screen.
After the race I thanked them and said that I had troubles to keep up with their pace, especially on the straights. They then reminded me about the painful fact that I hadn't upgraded my car fully (doh!), and that I was using a weaker pair of tires than both of them. They asked for a second race as soon as I had made the right adjustments to the car, and so we took to the track yet again. This time I had the power to compete because I qualified with a time that was only two seconds from the best lap. So we all started in the front, with 9 cars behind us. And we left them all in a trail of smoke as we pushed to the limit right from the start. The 4 laps that followed had me completely on the edge of my racing seat; it was both joy and terror. I pushed so hard that I had to take my sweater off during the second lap, on the main straight. I just barely got it off before the first corner showed up. I also had to wave my hands every now and then to get rid of all the sweat.
When I finally reached the finish line I had managed the impossible: I had beaten them both. One of them fell to pressure when I came up close; sadly he went wide, as with the race before this one. The other player had me on the straights but I managed to attack a couple of corners perfectly which was enough to hand me the lead. When the race was over I could feel how tense my body was, as if I had just finished a serious exercise. My left leg was almost cramped up from me holding it so firmly on the bake pedal. But the only thing I could really think about was how entertained I was by the whole experienced. The feeling of competing with evenly matched rivals where every single action was accounted for. The feeling of really pushing it to the limit to make the impossible possible. There's simply nothing else like it in the world of gaming. I truly love racing.
I quickly discovered that there were two guy who were constantly battling for first position, way ahead of the rest of the field. I joined mid-race so I spectated for a while and became witness to this glorious battle. They switched position on numerous occasions and their cornering technique became more aggressive the more laps they put in. It sadly ended with one of them going wide on the second last corner, which resulted in a spin when the wheels touched the grass. But they thanked each other for the race afterwards, in true sportsmanlike fashion.
When I eventually joined the practice for the next race session I was totally focused on trying to keep up with their pace, as they yet again took to the front in an intense battle. But oh boy did I have a hard time trying to achieve that goal. They completely outperformed me on the straights which put my cornering speed to the test. I was driving the Subaru WRX so I knew I had the car to be somewhat competitive in corners. But.... it just never payed off. Before the end of the second lap they were nowhere in sight. My only evidence of them still being in the race was the arrows on the map, and their constant lap records that centered on the screen.
After the race I thanked them and said that I had troubles to keep up with their pace, especially on the straights. They then reminded me about the painful fact that I hadn't upgraded my car fully (doh!), and that I was using a weaker pair of tires than both of them. They asked for a second race as soon as I had made the right adjustments to the car, and so we took to the track yet again. This time I had the power to compete because I qualified with a time that was only two seconds from the best lap. So we all started in the front, with 9 cars behind us. And we left them all in a trail of smoke as we pushed to the limit right from the start. The 4 laps that followed had me completely on the edge of my racing seat; it was both joy and terror. I pushed so hard that I had to take my sweater off during the second lap, on the main straight. I just barely got it off before the first corner showed up. I also had to wave my hands every now and then to get rid of all the sweat.
When I finally reached the finish line I had managed the impossible: I had beaten them both. One of them fell to pressure when I came up close; sadly he went wide, as with the race before this one. The other player had me on the straights but I managed to attack a couple of corners perfectly which was enough to hand me the lead. When the race was over I could feel how tense my body was, as if I had just finished a serious exercise. My left leg was almost cramped up from me holding it so firmly on the bake pedal. But the only thing I could really think about was how entertained I was by the whole experienced. The feeling of competing with evenly matched rivals where every single action was accounted for. The feeling of really pushing it to the limit to make the impossible possible. There's simply nothing else like it in the world of gaming. I truly love racing.
