Every time someone says, “I’m such a nerd! We should totally hang out!” I get all hyped, thinking we’ll vibe over shared geekiness. Then reality hits: I’m just a filthy casual, not nerdy enough to hang with the hardcore crowd. Too boring and mediocre for the jocks, too boring and mediocre for the nerds. Story of my life.
This hits hardest with video games. How are people so damn good? Especially in multiplayer—everyone’s some kind of hyper-accurate, lightning-fast marksman, while I’m over here fumbling the controls like it’s my first day.
For years, I thought I had a handle on auto racing games. But recently, it’s like the genre’s been stripped down, losing the features that made it fun. Remember when auto racing games actually had depth? I miss being able to drive into a pit box, have an unpredictable pit stop—could be amazing, could be a disaster—and drive back out. Hell, why not let the player take part in the pit stop? A mini-game with real consequences, or go all-in for those who want to master it. It’s 2024, and this doesn’t exist on consoles? How is that still a thing?
If pits are “too hard” for casual gamers, throw in some guardrails, the option to turn it off…but let the hardcore players have a full simulation mode. Pit strategy is a huge part of real racing, and yet recent games act like pit stops don’t even exist. It’s like the developers have no clue how the sport works, and that laziness is frustrating.
I mean, Rockstar can build these massive, hyper-detailed worlds where the NPCs feel more human than I do after a long week. So why is it such a tall order to include a real pit stop mechanic in a racing game? You don’t even have to craft a world 1/20,000th of Rockstar’s size. Just give us some features that make the game feel like racing again.
I’ve heard iRacing is pretty good and I should check it out. I’m just more of a console guy, and I hear something by that team is coming to consoles in the fall of 2025 so that gives me some hope for the future.
