The GPL beta test team has been racing each other via the Internet for a while now. The other night I had a great duel with my brother Nate. I won three of the four races, but my favorite was the one that I didn't win.
Nate got the jump on me at the start, and I was having an absolute blast, hurling the car through Burnenville, flicking it through Malmady and the Masta kink, tigering through Stavelot on the ragged edge. I was right on his tail, marveling at the deliciousness of the entire experience, when I got so excited I got carried away and forgot to brake at the first corner at La Carriere, and spun.
That sobered me up, and I gritted my teeth and concentrated. My next lap was the fastest I'd ever done at Spa, and by the end of the lap, Nate was in sight again. He was flying, too, and going into the last lap we were both giving it everything we had. I was right on his tail out of La Source, he pulled away a little through Eau Rouge, and then, going through Burnenville, he got wide and spun. I had nowhere to go and collected him as he came back across the track.
He got the jump on me away from the crash, as I fumbled with the gears, but through the rest of the lap I concentrated hard, closed slowly and was less than a second away as we powered out of La Source over the line.
It was one of the best races I've ever had, and a sensational experience. Despite some glitches due to unstable latency on the Internet routes between us, the experience was so real, for a while I forgot I was racing a sim. It brought me back to the days Nate and I used to race dirt track karts together, fighting tooth and nail for the upper hand, giving no quarter, tingling with excitement when it was over.
It's difficult to overstate the fierce joy of hurling a fantastic car through the long, wonderful corners of a magnificent circuit like Spa, in hot pursuit of your best friend and closest competitor.
Give me more!!