Edit: forgot to add the original begging for $4000 to buy a new sim rig was that his equipment had broken, turns out the rig was fine and he needed a new rig to have a “better feel of the physics”, moderators stepped in and found out the requested equipment was actually $2000.
This is complete rubbish. Bears no semblance to reality.
If thats true, then wow.
Jerome
It aint true. Its made up.
Here's the actual situation.
Praiano is an older guy who makes pizzas to be able to pay the bills and to try to help his son through his studies.
He leads a simple life, almost totally devoid of material possessions.
He lives in a tiny little shack, sleeps in a hammock.
His hobby is Gran Turismo. He has invested many years and thousands of hours into making tunes and developed a follower base here on GT Planet, around his GT tuning garage threads.
For many years, his tunes were done on what most of us would not even call a "rig". It was a G29 in front of an old, discarded cinema seat. And from memory, the G29 was over 4 years old and was malfunctioning already before PS5 was released. Eventually it either died or became unusable, so Praiano stopped making tunes.
People on this forum decided to crowd-fund a solution; to enable him to upgrade his G29 to a direct drive wheel, and to purchase a PS5 - upgrades that he could not afford to make.
We raised the funds and he bought the equipment.
People suggested raising more funds to buy an actual cockpit to mount it to, but Praiano was insistent that this wasn't necessary.
I am unaware of a single donor who asked for a refund of their donation because the target had been overshot. Almost everyone just wanted Praiano to enjoy the donations as a small compensation for his contributions to the community over a decade.
His supporters on GTPlanet encouraged him to add a donation button to his thread, and then he found a way to monetise his skill - using Patreon - and to recoup some payment for the 40+ hours he invests each week into developing new tunes.
I can't quite get over the mean spirit and resentment of some in this thread who feel
entitled to benefit from Praiano's tireless work, for FREE, FOREVER. Thankfully, it's only a few bad eggs. Praiano has thousands of fans who appreciate him, his kind nature and his fantastic work.
His tunes are reliable, consistent, easy to apply (much easier than using videos) and his advice and commentary on each vehicle is also a great value add.
Best $5 I spend each month - and honestly I don't have much spare ca$h. But supporting Praiano is something I'm happy to do. His tunes have given me so much driving enjoyment over the last 6-7 years.
Thanks again Praiano.