Manual Driving = For Men? The other day, when I went back to my parents’ house and was out with my parents and kids in a BMW 320i manual transmission, my mother said something like this: “Isn’t driving a manual such a hassle?” When I replied, “No, it’s fun,” she said, “You’ve always been like this, but you’re totally a guy in personality…” Is enjoying driving a manual car something only men do? lol But...
PS4 racing game “Gran Turismo SPORT” (hereafter: GT Sport) enthusiast YouTube channel “GTsport Broadcast Station” MC Rico Otsuka and GT Sport player Tatsuya Sugawara interview. We delivered the first half of the article recently, and this time it’s the latter half. Please enjoy. GT and Real Cars By the way, what should we call online racing? Rico: Sugawara-kun and I have seriously discussed this, but it’s surprisingly tricky. Sugawara: Generally, the term eSports is widespread,...
Imported Cars, Right-Hand Drive (MT) Lately, when I drive my BMW 320i (MT), I often feel, “Right-hand drive manual imported cars are incredibly busy to operate when turning at intersections.” Before, I didn’t really notice this because I was focused on clutch operation and driving smoothly, so it didn’t bother me that much. But now that I’m quite used to driving a manual and can do it without much conscious thought, the operations involved when...
PS4 racing game “Gran Turismo SPORT (hereafter: GT Sport)” is the focus of the YouTube channel “GTsport Broadcast Station.” When I recently watched a virtual race on this program, I was struck by how “incredibly fun GT Sport really is.” So this time, I interviewed MC Rico Otsuka, who plans and runs this channel, and GT Sport player Tatsuya Sugawara, and had a great conversation with both of them. Hooked on the Charm of GT...
Panamera, with Love. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably know how much I love the Panamera. That said, after I learned to drive a manual, there was honestly a time when I found the Panamera a bit underwhelming. It’s just that the Panamera is so perfectly engineered that there’s hardly any room for the driver to intervene… no matter how you drive it, it just runs smoothly, and I found...
Safe Driving with the Kids When driving on the highway at night, thoughts sometimes cross my mind that I don’t usually consider. The evenly spaced orange lights along the highway and the taillights of the cars ahead create a beautiful scene, and I get the illusion that my speed is being absorbed into the darkness. At the same time, the interior of the car feels more than usual like my own private space. The other...
The Time When I Had No Interest in Cars As I’ve written many times on this blog, I used to have absolutely no interest in cars. When I met my husband about 10 years ago, he was driving a BMW 318i, but since I wasn’t interested in cars at all, I don’t remember anything about how it felt to ride in it. We often went out somewhere on holidays, so I rode in the car...
Body Colors of Japanese Cars… The other day, when I was back at my parents’ house talking with my dad—who has absolutely no interest in cars—he suddenly said this: “Japanese cars don’t really have good colors. European cars seem to have a lot of mature, understated colors, but Japanese cars don’t seem to have those attractive options. So in the end, people just pick safe colors like black or white.” Wow… I never thought my...
A Long-Awaited Visit to Mercedes me The other day, I had some errands to run alone in Umeda, Osaka, and decided to drop by Mercedes me at Grand Front Osaka for the first time in a while. Since I’m usually not very tuned into events, it was only by coming out into the city that I truly felt Christmas was just around the corner. On the first floor of the North Building of Grand Front,...
Driving Uses Your Muscles The other day, I participated in a Porsche driving school (Porsche Track Experience), and during that time, I really felt how much muscle driving actually uses. Of course, you need strong pedal force when braking hard, and for slalom driving, I learned that pressing your back into the seat and pushing the steering wheel requires leg strength to brace yourself and core stability. That said, I’m obviously not aiming to be...
