Track Days without the Track

Once you get your car on the track, you're kind of addicted for what I presume to be the rest of your life. Not a week goes by when I don't think about lines around the track, what it feels like to get that super smooth trail brake rotation at the perfect moment, or how to eek out another couple of milliseconds off a lap time.

Given I can't be on the track every day (or week, or even month), something has to fill the void. A few drives in the mountains, and the occasional early morning heel-toe downshift coming in to work help, as does video games. Not just any video games, but car racing games. And this year looks like it's gonna be an epic.

There's two main franchises in the racing world that go more for the realistic approach to driving (than a pure arcade, blast around having fun approach) - Forza and Gran Turismo. Forza 3 and Gran Turismo 5 are both coming out this year, and with this weeks E3 conference, a couple of trailers were released. Check them out below, and see which one you fancy.....

Oh, and my name is Aaron, and I'm a car loving geek.....

You are the controller

Welcome to the future, courtesy of the XBox 360. (and thanks to Tonks for showing me this)

Sega Rally is Back

Well, not quite yet, but it's looking good for when it does make it. Not only does it take advantage of the new consoles (PS3 and XBOX360) to bring lots of realistic pretty pictures, the developers have somehow built into the physics the effect of driving cars on the track. Not really surprising you might say - all the good racing games vary the grip with the type of track and/or weather - dry concrete is less slippy than snow covered mud for example. However, Sega has taken it a step further, so that the car actually has an effect on the track - that ridge you left in the mud on lap one is there to throw you off course on lap 2 if you're not paying attention. What this means is that there are unlikely to be 2 laps the same, ever. Anyway, the guy from Sega explains and demos it a lot better than I do, so listen to him...

Parallels for Mac Ads

Harmony in the world (or something like that). Maybe I'm still a little in shock (and happy) that Microsoft actually stepped up to the plate and made everyones XBox360 warranty magically last for 3 years instead of the original 3 months/12 months). It means I get my $140 back - now if they could only get the delivery process to be a little quicker ;-)

The Phone From Jesus?

Not really, but as Brad said, probably the best product lauch ever (in terms of user generated hype anyway). I'm still holding out (I guess you can't activate the iPhone yet with a biz account, and the thought of having to pay for my own phone plan after so many years having one company or another pick up the tag gives me cold sweats these days), but not sure how long that will last.

Anyway, Pete (after chastising me for my lack of patience) posted a decent number of reviews on what he thinks so far, and they're all on his blog.



Oh, and given I made it back into town at the weekend (first time for way too long), I did manage to download the Apple TV update for viewing YouTube on your TV. And it's bloody great!

Other things I managed to catch up on were finally speaking to a real live person on the XBox support line, who kindly removed $140 from my bank account for the priveledge of fixing their self destructing 360 one month after the warranty ran out (very bitter, can you tell...), getting the car washed, mowing the lawn (cutting the grass in English), and spending some quality time hanging out with Heidi and Fynn.

I now get (if the plans stay in place) at least a whole 2 weeks in Denver to enjoy the decent weather (almost a 100 for the next 3 days), and try and catch up on a little sleep.