I seen Cano and Blazin in my other "The Tuner Culture" topic. For the most part, when I came up with that, I just wanted to talk about the tuner culture. Blazin discussed mini-trucking and all. Later on, Griffin comes in mentioning my introduction and then looking at the Skyline vs. Mustang talk. The point made with the Skyline/Mustang war is that the R34 looks ugly compared to the Mustang. Then later (and I'll admit), there was the usual Honda bashing used by stereotypical idiots. Now when I say stereotypical idiots, I mean that a person who has a V8 ponycar likes to think that basically all personally-modded cars are Honda Civics. Of course, that is a generalization. Besides, not only Hondas and not only Civics, to make a long story short, anything with aftermarket parts and bolt-on goodies can be modded.
You know what I got on my PS2 as I type this? The DVD to "The Fast and the Furious." Now let me make this clear. I am SICK of the FnF labelling. I think someone wanted to put them in the spotlight, and the cars raced (except maybe the 'Cuda at the end) were mostly sport compacts and non-American cars. I glanced over a website just last night on this Asian-inspired website, whereas the editor talked about how Lucy Liu was in "Charlie's Angels" and put an Asian lady on the map. Later, he was disgraced that Liu wasn't in "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," saying that she was in a quick scene, never to be seen again for the rest of the movie. So what example would this prove for if FnF had all American muscle cars? Well, I already know that there was "Bullit" (right spelling?) that had a Mustang in it. I'm sure there were no bodykits or fancy lighting (wasn't even around back then). But I bet if FnF had all muscle cars and American trucks, WE'D be making fun of them because import/sport compact fans think that they need a chance to shine and with a moment crushed to bits, import/sport compact fans were pretty ticked.
Allow me to express a theory about the tuner culture and how much it relates to teen girls. If you didn't know, I admire ladies' fashion. I almost wanted to consider being a fashion designer. But anyhow, when young girls love to see their favorite female stars dress up in sexy, daring fashion, almost every trendy girl wants to look like her or wear the kinds of clothing she wears. I can recall when Kelly Clarkson was American Idol and was on MTV or something, and girls liked her clothing that she thought about starting her own clothing line. Much like J-Lo (formerly "Jennifer Lopez"). She obviously looked her best, so she made her own clothing line. So how does this relate to the import/sport compact scene? This may sound strange, but we are all like the trendy teen girls. When we love looking at something beautiful or stylish, tuners want to have that look. And in so, it has. There are shaker hoods, roof scoop like on some WRC cars, carbon fiber body parts, neon lighting, and all that stuff to make people personalize their car much the same way a young girl wants to personalize her wardrobe. People mod cars the way they want to with the best of their ability. If a car wants to look like a rally champion, so be it. If someone wants the car to be a GT racer, so be it. But it comes at the price of proving it. "Sports Car Revolution" is anti-tuner for a reason. It is because if you want your car to be a competitor, you have to prove it. And to go back to my example about trendy teens, if a girl wears a shirt saying she's an "Angel" or a "Princess," normally, she'd have to prove it. An angel is basically a dead soul that brings good to people and resides in heaven. A princess is the lower level of Queen, and not one trendy girl out there rules a nation. The only exception to the rule would be a shirt saying "American Girl," simply because she was born American and/or loves America.
America is more of a nation of proving things, rather than just taking things for granted, so to speak. I think that a Skyline... no, let's pick a lesser overrated Japanese car... a Mitsubishi 3000GT. Okay, the 3000GT has almost as much weight as a small luxury car, but with tuning, becomes very powerful. But can it take on a Camaro SS on the strip and tuned to the max and street legal? Maybe, maybe not. But you'd eat your words if you doubted the 3000GT because it is possibly Japan's most powerful car available to America. The GT-R you would have to import (or you can tune the Infiniti G35). And Cano brings up some good points. Just because a Civic or a Supra isn't a Grand National or a 5.0 doesn't mean that it's junk. I been in Japanese Chats on AOL (I know no one cares about AOL, but let me finish), and this one person said "isn't the Supra an expensive piece of junk?" So what? A Mustang in the $25,000 to $35,000 range ISN'T junk? Last I heard, the Supra ran you by maybe $40,000+. The Corvette is like, 35, 40, $50,000? Sure, you can't add fancy graphics to any of these cars and make them underperform, otherwise, it would be the equivalent of loving polka music over rock, right? As long as the car owner has an imagination, any car from his/her mind can be modded if at all possible. Muscle car people, I am SICK of the "Fast and Furious" stereotypes about import/sport compacts. They listen to breakbeat and techno with our cool cars compared to listening to Brooks and Dunn or Toby Keith, but that doesn't mean that they don't know their cars. And someone mentioned this, some people dislike American cars, but appreciate their performance. I know when I was in the TXR3 Review in the Game Reviews forum, Darin said that "I was really smoking something" when I said that the Ford Mustang Mach 1 in the game was a cool car. Now in the game, I race a 725HP Ford GT. I like all cars of all types. I needed a performance edge in the game so I chose those. Just because I have some American models doesn't mean I am anti-Japanese and anti-tuner. Just because I like Japanese cars doesn't mean I'm anti-non-Japanese. I just have different tastes, and I can't be thinking about anything with a V8 and 3000+ pounds of weight. Some people PREFER lighter, more nimble cars. And while some tuner cars LOOK like race cars or special one-offs, at least they are not the race cars of today. The tuner culture is more of a fashion statement, and money can't be wasted endlessly on an American V8 car. The lighter, smaller, less-powerful cars just perform better and I've grown to love them. Go ahead and bash on me, I've had plenty of that online in AOL Chats.
So, when it comes to Show vs. Go, it's based on personal tastes, no matter what any V8-toting speed demon daresay.
