Now back to the main story. Gran Turismo racing is something that can be done with your significant others if you are patient with one another – I am even a proponent of involving your children. Racing is, and should be, a family sport whether on the track, at the drag strip, or on line.
If you do decide to do any online racing with your significant other, there are a few simple rules to follow:
1. Coach only when asked to coach; and be encouraging. Otherwise things can get sensitive and nasty.
2. Remember, it is OK for hers to be bigger than yours (though one day I will get a bigger system – a 50 inch HiDef with an ECCI TrackStar 6000 steering wheel and pedals).
3. Don’t do this on a loveseat, especially if your significant other is very competitive – they can be very scheming in their attempts to win. You really need to have a little bit of space and material between you during a heated race. Sometimes, you may need to have a little protection from the flailing arms of a distraught competitor – especially if they think YOU are guilty of some infraction. “Hey. What are you doing? I’m leading right now. Hey. That’s not fair!”
4. If you are easily distracted, don’t put your displays so you can see both of them while you are racing – the temptation is too great.
5. Make sure you have more than an arms length between the two driving stations (self preservation). It also prevents a disgruntled driver from reaching over and stomping on YOUR brakes or snapping your steering wheel over and driving you into a wall at the Daytona Road Course (Koalaty claims this to be a gross exaggeration and disavows the whole statement. She claims that these are dirty tricks that I used on my rivals while racing motorcycles on Guam).
6. Share your setups, but make her/him work for some of it (no, that is NOT what I mean). For instance, when Koalaty completes her S-Class license in GT4 and also GT5 (when it comes out), I will give her my save that has almost every car in the game. So far, I do have every car in the GT5 game.
7. Keep the online racing competitive, but be patient with those who have the little orange “rookie” patches on the backs of their cars. We all have to pay our dues to become a group of the best racers in the world – and I do believe this group is some of the best – sometimes I can hardly stand the humiliation.
8. For Pete’s sake – don’t take it too seriously. Racing has a little contact – just keep it incidental – no malicious attacks. If you forget even for a moment that your opponent is sitting only an arm’s length away, you may pay with your life.
(Comment by Koalaty: The violence and pettiness in this article is grossly exaggerated. I would NEVER strike my loving spouse. I do not beat up on OLD people. Heck, he started drawing Social Security this year. I would never take advantage of his loss of reflexes and his loss of muscle tone like that).
(Rebuttal by SeniorL8R: Thanks for not hitting me again Koalaty. Honest guys, she is a very faithful, worthy competitor. She actually beat Kartracer and me in a race one night (fluke). I think anyone who has raced with us knows that most of this article is EXACTLY as Koalaty says – now will you PLEASE let go of my arm so I can type with BOTH hands).
Good luck and good racing wherever you are.
SeniorL8R (Sonny Boyd) and Koalaty
