Pit Stop – My Garage

With games like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport we can end up filling up our virtual garage full of some of the best and fastest cars in the world. I have a slight obsession when it comes to starting my virtual collection. I always tend to start with the actual car I own and cars I’ve owned previously. I’m not sure why, when I have the choice of various Ferraris and Lamborghinis, I go for my boring old cars.

It started with GranTurismo 4. I would probably spend most of my time in my Peugeot 106. Hot lapping around Nürburgring time after time, trying to get down below twelve minutes. It was probably my most used car in that game. That continued on into Need for Speed Underground 2 with the same car, a Peugeot 106, in blue. As I recall I really did spend most of the game driving around pimping out my Pug.

Eventually my real Peugeot gave out and I splashed out on a fairly decent Astra. That was it. In every game I could I went and bought an Astra, competing and hot lapping wherever I could. I couldn’t always get my exact model – I had a diesel, after all – but the VXR was as close as I could get. It was still very satisfying racing around seeing the same dashboard I see everyday. Probably a little sad on my part, but I can’t explain this obsession. Maybe because it would would be slightly irresponsible to drive around like lunatics in real life, it’s just nice to virtually be able to take your own car out and have some fun with it.

I’m not sure why, when I have the choice of various Ferraris and Lamborghinis, I go for my boring old cars.

Unfortunately I was involved in a pretty bad accident in the Astra, (no serious injuries, just a few bruises here and there) resulting in the car being completely written off. Since then I’ve been driving a Clio. Again you can generally only get the sport edition in games, which I don’t have, but it’s still pretty close, at least that’s what I like to think.

I hope I’m not alone in my strange love of racing around in my very mediocre collection of cars. I’m still waiting for the day I can take my first car, a Vauxhall Nova, around Silverstone. I’m pretty sure no one else would be doing the same if they made that car available, but I’d appreciate it. Now remember – keep it on the track; virtual or physical.