Spotlight On: Tuners’ Pit Racing Association
by FEMAELSTROM, HSM team writer
Many games are represented throughout the Home landscape, and there are many great games that are iconic to our system. One game that has come into my focus recently is the classic Gran Turismo.
When I say Gran Turismo, I don not simply mean its fifth version that is currently available on the PS3. I am referring to the entire franchise. Gran Turismo 1-5, Prologue and the version available for the PSP. I personally have had each and every copy, and have loved each one more than the last. There is a true sense of fun and action in this game that, when enjoyed in an arcade setting or simulation mode, can carry one through the entire experience. I personally have enjoyed the reformat of the game as it introduced several goals to achieve, that walk hand in hand with the trophy sets so many people work tirelessly for.
The pride of my file is simply that I have achieved a level 40, the highest level. Next goal: acquire 1,000 cars. This may seem a lofty goal, but I’m somewhere near 700, and with millions of GT dollars in my virtual bank, it is an eventuality.
As much as I have achieved though, I recently met a group of guys who showed me what camaraderie and sportsmanship is all about; though I did have a good bead on it already, these guys really did surprise me with their great attitude towards good, online sportsmanship.
The group is called the Tuners Pit Racing Association. The group was founded by Maineiac Moose and consists of a band of real gentlemen that are more than willing to help anyone who comes along to enjoy what is an iconic and hallmark game of our system. The other founding members are: Nutttz, forgetful, Oldtimer01, Jimmy1971, Swerv_Griffen, and THE_KART96. I had the chance to meet these guys and I was greatly pleased at how friendly and welcoming these guys are from the get go.
This is what the troll racers want.
It has been my observation that many times in the online races, there is a ‘troll’-ish aggression that makes the events not so fun. As a driver enters a turn, the person behind will force you into the grass or sand, placing you in the last place by a good stretch of time. Then, if you are a good enough driver to get back in the lead, the people you pass jump out of the lobby until you ride alone and even the lobby shuts down.
Tuners Pit Racing Association are not that in the slightest. These guys are about racing and making it fun for all who participate. They aspire to make it fun to the degree that they will send entrants and the novice car set ups. Allow me to explain this for a moment just so that we can all appreciate the extent of the friendly and community minded spirit these guys embrace. First, a small backstory:
One of the earliest troubles faced was voiced by THE_KART96. He was playing Gran Turismo prologue at the time. The race setups were regional, as Gran Turismo Planet, an online group devoted to the game, is located in the U.K. He had trouble getting into race lobbies and admits that when he was able to get into races, the drivers were often really bad. He started to look for a new forum, and was directed to the PSN forums by a fellow Gran Turismo Planet driver that lived in the U.S. Once he found this forum, he found fellow enthusiasts that enjoyed the sport as much as he did.
This is what real racing is all about. Good clean competetive racing.
On the track, their philosophy is simple: get in a car and race. Don’t crash people and simply race. Don’t shove competitors into the sand or grass; just race. Race the car and let everyone have fun, and be happy without leaving the lobby, and enjoy the pure sport of racing (and to those that believe that racing is just cars going ’round and ’round in circles, it is as complex, if not more, due to the technology of the car, as any stick-and-ball sport out there).
The Tuners Pit Racing Association is not new to Home. They have an interesting history here. They originally met on the PSN forum for Gran Turismo Prologue. This is where Gran Turismo enthusiasts can discuss the game and organize events that are Gran Turismo related. Those that participate are also invited to barter and trade, also to add their own voice to the discussions about this great game. As much as the founding members used the forums, they did find it a hassle trying to run their races from the forum pages, so they created their own website, www.tunerspit.com . Now they hold their own races inside the game itself. Like real racing, drivers have to run laps called “qualifying” laps, where one tries to run the fastest lap time to place in the race as well as a better starting position on track.
According to ‘Oldtimer’ (one of the founders), “When we run the race, we set up a room in the game and grid the drivers by their qualifying time. Drivers practice and perfect their time. We have some of the fastest drivers in North America run with us, including quite a few Gran Turismo Academy finalists. All of our members are willing to help anyone who needs it.”
This is again a place that points out the importance of the realm of forums and the websites that exist surrounding games. Gran Turismo Academy was a game released by developer Polyphony Digital, and was a top-level game that was meant to find “the best of the best”. Countless drivers participated and got ranked by their times they posted in the Academy in races and time trials. Through their forums and website, Tuners Pit Racing Association has had some of these finalists enter their fold to race. This connection to the forums and the web proved invaluable in increasing interest in Tuners Pit Racing Asssociation and the game of Gran Turismo.
A racer at heart, THE_KART96.
All races are posted and made public on the website and the forums, well in advace of the green flag dropping. The guys at Tuners Pit Racing Association do admit that activity has slowed down a little since the game came out two years ago, but are still able to field a group of drivers that run about eight to ten cars per race. Tuners Pit Racing Association recently ran a six-hour endurance race on December 1st that hosted seven teams, each with three drivers per team. This, to say the least, is a massive and daunting task that these devoted fans of the game gladly partake in and organize and encourage anyone willing to try, to join in as well.
Much like the warnings in the beginning of games, Oldtimer says that he has never done this in real life, (too dangerous) and more enjoys the ability to race all the different and various cars in the game. For those that are into cars, this game has a bounty that will please any appetite. There are cars from the Le Mans series, NASCAR, rally, F1, classics, street (much like you may be driving), sport, muscle and exotics. What ever your flavor, this game lets you drive it. The group at Tuners Pit Racing Association look to drivers to be fair and drive for the pleasure of it, not the over-the-top, hostile and aggressive competition that can easily stain the real fun of any community sport. For this group, it has produced an average age of the participants at about thirty-five.
Normally enemies, even these guys want to see each other’s faces.
The connection with Home started about four and a half years ago, when Oldtimer started in the closed Home beta. “When it went public, I was able to convince the race community to have a Christmas party in Home. Back then we could glitch our own server so it was kept just to us. Once the club rooms became available, I pushed for having meetings there prior to races so we could get everyone together. We did that for about a year: three nights a week of racing with drivers meeting in Home before each race. It was nice being able to put a face to the people we were racing, even though it was an avatar’s face.”
The group hasn’t used Home much over the last two years mostly because they felt that Sony never really explored the game-launching capabilities in Home.
This brings to mind a thought. What Oldtimer wanted to do was something that so many want when gaming: they want the social connection as well as the gaming experience. Oldtimer came to Home to celebrate Christmas with friends he made on the forums and thru Gran Turismo; when the Tuners Pit Racing Association came to Home, they used it and found that could have a lot of fun with each other in Home and in games and experiences that were beyond Gran Turismo 5. Home, though, wasn’t — and to a degree isn’t– always the easiest for such groups. It is a matter of Home and Sony (by extension) making Home more than the simple marketplace for the newest games and in Home virtual items, and embracing it’s roots as a game launching platform, with the idea of keeping an eye on its newest games that the fans want to play — but, as well, keeping track of it’s own hallmark and classic games that still have a strong fan base. It would serve the many that still play games like Gran Turismo, for instance, to develop a place to meet in Home just to game launch — and, even better, a place to launch that is themed just for the fans.
I see the concept of having a mall environment for fans of Modern Warfare, Metal Gear and the new and recent Ratchet and Clank online game as well as many other classic games. A place where one can walk into the Gran Turismo store front and meet fellow players that want to play this popular game as well as new PS3 titles. Home is a great environment that has morphed into a very successful social environment. From what was once a gamer’s meet-up-and-launch site, to the social phenom it is today, perhaps getting back to its roots just a little in that manner would be a great start where people of like minds can get together and enjoy some of Sony’s finest games.
Hard roads? This real track is some 14 miles and has some 170+ turns, and it is in GT5.
It seems that Tuners Pit Racing Association had to take a long and interesting adventure to get to where they are, and for them it is worth it. The members in their own way became celebrities, having aided many to the point that a recent visit to a game store ended up with THE_KART96 giving out advice to the 15-20 fans as well as autographs. These fans and devotees would have never known of Tuners Pit Racing Association or THE_KART96 had it not been for the forums and the way that Tuners Pit Racing Asssociation used them to further their enjoyment of Home and the games.
Home still has a lot of growing to experience in a positive manner. There are technologies sprouting here that even a simple year ago we would have never thought possible. Now we can ride jet cycles, hover board, have it snow in our homes, throw snowballs, and so forth — but maybe, just maybe, we can get back to our humble beginnings a bit so that those that are out there in the forums that want another place to meet with their gaming friends, like the Tuners Pit Racing Asssociation, can come to Home and find a warm and friendly place to call their Home for their clubs and groups.
January 11th, 2013 by FEMAELSTROM | 6 comments
FEMAELSTROM came to Home in June 2011 and never wanted to leave, even at weekly maintenance when he usually gets booted. The sand box environment appeals to the explorer in him and often is out and about as he ‘geeks’ out dressed like some sort of sci-fi character, while he people watches in popular public spaces. An artist and writer, FEMAELSTROM loves making friends and meeting people. He loves sci-fi and decorating Home estates and loves to respond “here” when people ask “where are you from?” in public places.
Or, heh, you could just play Test Drive Unlimited 2! I know, I know, it’s no where near the level of GT. But you get that seamless community/racing thing without extra programs (Home). Where *did* my review of that go? ; )
Nice write up, and a good story of proper gamers having decent fun. One of the reasons I stay away from MP gaming is due to irate teenagers who apparently “never lose”, rage quitters and the like.
As it happens I’m STILL waiting to get a copy the ‘new’ Gran Turismo…
I miss the days where we could go to the Gaming Lounge and launch some quality games with good gamers seeking to just have fun.
I’ve heard of this Group for years since I’ve been on Home. This is an awesome article to showcase what I wish to see on Home again: actual social networking!
Excellent article.
This show how Sony failed to bring (more) gaming company in home. Why they didn’t do a space for this exclusive and awsome game?
I understand the switch from “platform for gamers” to “gaming platform” but… If you want to attract gamers, what’s best then games dedicated spaces?
If you run a commercial paper magazine and can’t convince company to advertise in it, you can’t blame the readers.
I dont want to throw rocks at anyone. But this kinda make me sad thinking of what home could had been. Probably a egg or chicken 1st dilemma.
Let’s just hope we get our gamers virtual world somewhere in the future and continue to support our favorite console maker.
I’ve never really played the Gran Turismo games myself. I mean the amount of licensed cars those games have is huge. But I prefer more open world racers than just the standard tracks. I’m with KrazyFace, I’m more of a fan of Test Drive Unlimited 2, not to mention TDU1. Heck I’ve been playing the Test Drive games since the very first one that was released in 1987. But good article as always Strom.
I enjoyed the read Strom, I enjoy your writing style. I still think you should come out some Sat. night and race with us as I said before we will do whatever it takes to make sure you have a good time. You can also race on Sat. without a qualifying time we just grid you at the back. Once again thank you for all that you do for the gaming community.
I used to belong to this group of racers and friends and I can vouch for their integrity. Most of all every one of the TPRA members is about helping you get the most enjoyment out of your experience there, the racing can be as fun as you want it to be or as serious, yer call. I’m an adult male 40-45 with a family and full time job I scare easily when it comes to joining any kind of group based on the internet but I can definitely attest to the this clubs authenticity, generosity and integrity.
Great article, thank you!