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Introduction
There are those among us in the virtual racing community who
believe the highest level of samadhi in Papyrus' immortal Grand
Prix Legends is not to be found in the Formula 1 cars--whose
raw power and ragged control seem as prehistoric as the troglodytic
Unlimited Hydros in powerboat racing--but in the grace and balance
of the Formula 2 cars (called "Advanced Trainers" in
the game due to some obscure legal beef, just as the doughty
little Formula 3s are elliptically referred to as "Novice
Trainers"). It wasn't supposed to be this way.
The F2s aren't really trainers at all, but superb racers in their
own right. Mastering the welterweight F2s will in no way prepare
you for a title bout with the Neanderthal F1s, but they will
teach you the art of motor racing without the excess baggage
of too much power and too little car control. The F2s may not
be as spectacular as the F1s, but by the same token, F2 racing
does not attract the grandstanders, the show-offs, or those annoying
thrill-kills who like to spoil everybody else's sport by blasting
around the track the wrong way taking out all the serious racers.
I won't say the denizens of F2 are a bunch of mincing aesthetes,
but they're a bit more refined than the ego-poisoned bullies
who like to throw their weight around in F1 events. Like they
say, if a little is good, a lot isn't neccessarily better. |