I was glued to a game called Street Rod I when I was younger. For a kid who loved cars it was all consuming. We had a computer in my stepsister’s room/office (she visited every other weekend). It was a game with a simple concept. Your goal was too beat the king by the end of summer, but the game had so many neat features, it was playable again and again. Here are my top eight favorite things about this car game as a kid.

First, you could buy cars from newspaper ads.  Second, they came in varying degrees of ware. Third, you could strip parts off to make your car faster for free. Fourth, you worked on your car and took care of it. Five, every pink slip race was a chance too loose it all; or you could just race for $50 bucks, but it would add wear and tear to your car. Six you could get pulled over driving in the game. Seven, you could swap motors and strip down cars. Eight, the automatic was a safe bet, but a manual was always faster. Randomly you’d drop that clutch and the transmission would go or the engine would blow.

Seriously what an amazing game and there hasn’t been anything quite like it since. Garage simulator is kind of close but still missing a reason to build and swap cars like Street Rod. It was that game got me hooked on gaming in general. I played that game through fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades.  Freshman year started and I got my hands on my first-ever game purchase. I paid ten dollars. Road and Track’s Need for Speed, while it only had a few cars, the developers took the time to add interior views and sounds. What the cars had in real life, they had in the game. Take for example cars with antilock braking in real life it meant they had antilock braking in the game. If not, they didn’t add it. The attention to detail was incredible and the car information section was spot on! I’d listen to it for hours cause I’m weird like that, the sounds of the engine are comforting to me.

Later in my freshman year the biggest and craziest car game hit. Gran Turismo and it blew everything else away. Ok; there were no interior views, but it was ok because it had real tracks. It also had 250 plus cars, attention to detail, and auto tuning. Racing with your friends on the split screen, watching the in-game replay, and capturing our track times. Out of all games I’ve ever played this one is the one I spent the most time on. I got to a point where if you told me which track we were on, I could drive a manual with my eyes covered and one hand on the controller (sadly true). I probably spent way too much time on that game, but what fun to be had. We all have spent time wasting away, goofing off with our friends before we join the workforce and that game was my last hurrah. All these games were gems; made by dedicated people, and I want to say thank you to all of them. There have been some sweet games made since then, but these games represent my first feels into the joy and love I have for playing car games.

Street Rod had some rough moments.

Sadly I never see this model of Viper in any new games.

Always started Gran Turismo with the cheapest used Supra I could find.