The Hindu Business Line : Let’s race

Till then, my fastest in a car had been about 140 kmph in a SUV about ten years ago and my PC gaming experience was limited to Solitaire and Minesweeper and, when connected to the Internet, BlastBilliards.

Well, you can imagine why I’d think that watching golf was infinitely preferable to motorsport. And why I really couldn’t understand teenagers locking themselves up in a room to play games all night (and the following day) long.

But all that changed after the exhilarating ride at close to 300 kmph and some doughnut turns on a city road one winter afternoon (see http://blogs.thehindubusinessline.com/audio/?p=1012 for details). The slight press on the stomach as you take off, the urgent movement forward when decelerating; the slow growling dance going into a doughnut; the menacing scream down the straight — all of these have changed me.

Now I know why teens and young adults like to race their cycles, bikes and cars, and love to play Need For Speed on their computers. Why even men who can’t get into a race car unless they went on a diet and exercise regimen for six months drool and go bonkers at the sight of a powerful race-car.

It is vicarious pleasure all right, but it is pleasure nonetheless; I wasn’t driving the race car, but I felt the same exhilaration as driving one, and I wanted to. And look at the F1 car’s steering wheel: doesn’t it look like a fancy game controller?

N. Nagaraj

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