Not at all. Geek can be entirely separated from things which are high tech. An F-22 stealth fighter is high tech, but I wouldn't consider it a geek topic. The Nissan GTR has some very high-tech features, but it would be strange to me to call it geek.

By that same token, very often things that are geek are not necessarily high tech. The two are very different descriptions.

But yes, I'd say we don't need more channels. Do we really even need channels at all?

>> ^westy:
The Forza franchise is an incredibley pore simulator im sure if you played some of the leading pc sims you would have allot more enjoyment.
The best simulatoins at the moment are I racing, Richard burns rally , R factor , Gtr Evo , LFS , netcar pro
non of the Forza games have come close to these.

I'm not 100% certain on this but this guys driving style seems a bit jerky and forced unsettling the car before corners Faster more talented drivers tend to be allot smoother.


it's Toshio Suzuki. he's 54 and one of the official Nissan R35 test drivers. you're right, he wouldn't be world class in terms of talent, his speed would come mostly from his knowledge of the car.

>> ^Throbbin:
Great vid.
I can't help but think many of those corners looked familiar, from Gran Turismo or some similar game.


Yup, it is called Nurburgring in the Gran Turismo games.

>> ^Selektaa:
Badass. When I eventually take a trip to Germany, I HAVE to go drive on this track! It's open to the public, and $30 gets you a lap in your car.


That would be a dream come true!

News link: http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/wfaa090629_wz_constablechase.1bc95a22.html

GARLAND — A pursuit that lasted 90 minutes and stretched through at least three cities ended with a violent collision at a Garland intersection Monday afternoon.

The chase began in Mesquite following a traffic stop by Dallas County Constables. It was not immediately clear what triggered the decision to pursue the driver, but there were indications that the man was wanted on felony warrants.

The Nissan's sedan eluded a phalanx of squad cars at speeds up to 100 mph on a back-and-forth route that included Interstate 30, LBJ Freeway and local streets. The suspect has been named as Shane Michel.

At one point, the he skidded out of control on a highway exit ramp and struck a highway sign head-on. The sign flipped over the car and shattered the car's rear window, but the driver kept going across a grassy median and resumed his flight.

Later, the car crashed through lowered gates at a DART light rail crossing in Garland.

A Dallas police helicopter and at least eight squad cars from several agencies were involved in the pursuit, which ended abruptly at the corner of Plano Road and Buckingham Road in Garland when Michel pulled in front of a pickup truck.

His sedan was struck on the driver's side door and skidded to a stop about half a block away. Paramedics used equipment to extricate him from the wreckage. He survived, but was injured. His condition at present is critical.

The driver of the pickup truck did not appear to be seriously hurt.

Rent a Z. Drive like an idiot. Be cool. Ignore culture and architecture.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Nissan-350Z-Races-Thru-Prague-in-This-Promo-DVD-The-Run

Fuck you Japan. FUCK. YOU. Really. All of you and your entire culture can burn in the same nukes that take out all of motherfucking China as far as I care. You're all the fucking same.


All I want from you is a Nissan GTR R35. Other than that, you're useless.

Is that why there's a waiting list for Smart Fortwos? They can't keep up with the demand for them, even if the US model is half as efficient as the European model.

The reason there is a waiting list is because the UAW won't allow that kind of car to be built, and because Diesel engines do not meet US cafe standards. Funny isn't it? Diesel is the most efficient fuel for cars, but we can't use it in the US except in big trucks. Maybe our problem isn't the car companies. Maybe our problem is an asinine Congress.

Anyway - some facts about 'green' cars in the US...

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/06/04/088884.html
http://blogs.internetautoguide.com/6271445/industry-news/best-selling-cars-in-2008/index.html
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/12/us-sales-of-hyb.html
http://www.hybridcar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=680&Itemid=45

As of August 2008, only about 26,000 TOTAL 'hybrid' cars (all brands, makes, models) were sold in the U.S. as compared to the bottom of the top 10 list (Nissan Sentra) which sold 59,000 units. So the #10 car in America more than DOUBLED the sales of all hybrid cars. That's in a year where gas prices were kicking consumers in the crotch.

http://www.hybridcar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=680&Itemid=45

European style cars don't sell in the US for many reasons. One - diesel. Two - UAW objections. Three - theyr'e TINY and Americans hate tiny, cramped cars. The market reality is that very few Americans will ever walk into a showroom and buy a tiny Eurocar when they have better options.

>> ^thinker247:
Is anybody asking why Americans aren't buying American cars?

Yes and no. US car sales aren't as horrible as people make it out to be, as far as I can tell. I personally don't like modern US cars, but a lot of people forget there's been US hybrid trucks for about eight years now. Plus, we sell a lot of cargo trucks too:

"The F-150 attracted 473,933 buyers this year, making it the No. 1-selling vehicle for 2008--it's been the best-selling vehicle in America for 27 years running. Another 431,725 buyers drove off Chevrolet lots in a Silverado."


Here's a list of the top 10 selling cars in the US: (from Bloomberg)

1 - Ford F-150
2 - Chevrolet Silverado
3 - Toyota Camry
4 - Honda Civic
5 - Honda Accord
6 - Toyota Matrix
7 - Nissan Altima
8 - Chevy Impala
9 - Dodge Ram
10 - Ford Focus

So that's five of the top ten, with numbers 1 and 2 being American cars.

Honda, Toyota and Nissan have all received massive federal funding and tax incentives in the last 15 years. We're talking $500million+ for each company. Talk about "socialism". It's OK to give them cash, but not our own?


>> ^thinker247:
And what is the purpose of a union?

Wow, really?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States


It's an incredibly dark, fucked up story. Once read, you'll understand why they're not just purposeful, but also required due to humanities dark nature to enslave eachother.

>> ^NetRunner:
>> ^dag:
If you take national pride out of the equation - the truth is that Nissan, Toyota and Honda have been making better cars on US soil for many years.

And GM and Ford have been making better cars in Australia and Europe for years.
The question here isn't about whether you like every car in a particular company's stable. What's Honda got that competes with the 'Vette? Why can't Toyota take the lead in pickup sales? What class is Nissan the sales leader in? Anything?
The big three need to restructure, and massively change their model mix in this country. The former is part of the bailout, and the latter was already part of their business plans.
I don't feel a lot of national pride about the way GM, Ford, and Chrysler have focused on gas guzzlers, and lobbied congress to reduce emissions standards.
However, I don't see why letting them fail would be a good thing for the country, either, and I don't see why people are more up in arms about $15bn than anyone seemed to be over the $700bn bank bailout, and those companies were grossly mismanaged on a scale that makes the big three look like paragons of wisdom.


Dude, for once dag said something intelligent...and you just had to try and mess it up. The big 3 failed miserably by flying in the face of common sense, they deserve to die EIA style. They were the manifestation of American foolish spending and over-consumption. Just stop.

>> ^dag:
If you take national pride out of the equation - the truth is that Nissan, Toyota and Honda have been making better cars on US soil for many years.


And GM and Ford have been making better cars in Australia and Europe for years.

The question here isn't about whether you like every car in a particular company's stable. What's Honda got that competes with the 'Vette? Why can't Toyota take the lead in pickup sales? What class is Nissan the sales leader in? Anything?

The big three need to restructure, and massively change their model mix in this country. The former is part of the bailout, and the latter was already part of their business plans.

I don't feel a lot of national pride about the way GM, Ford, and Chrysler have focused on gas guzzlers, and lobbied congress to reduce emissions standards.

However, I don't see why letting them fail would be a good thing for the country, either. I don't see why people are more up in arms about a $15bn loan for them than anyone seemed to be over the $700bn bank giveaway, and those companies were grossly mismanaged on a scale that makes the big three look like paragons of wisdom.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

If you take national pride out of the equation - the truth is that Nissan, Toyota and Honda have been making better cars on US soil for many years.

The numbers in this video are not impressive anyway. The Big 3 have been assembling garbage automobiles for decades, and people finally realized they were getting ripped off. Their deadline to move towards quality is long overdue (the gas crisis was the straw that broke.... the...gas guzzler's tow hitch?). This is supported by the fact that Chrysler, the least affected by escalating fuel prices, was the first to run into trouble - because of their long-standing tradition of poor quality. Same thing happened with Jaguar and Land Rover: poor quality - I don't mean initial quality (they ARE comfy at first)... I'm talking about holding value - overall longterm quality (ie, answering "No" to the question: "Will I be embarrassed to drive this car in 10 years?").

They need to learn how to design and assemble the damn thing correctly the first time, so the consumer isn't pissed off every time they need to replace something, even if it's the small shit: window motor, radiator fan, dashboard backlight and/or the gauges it illuminates, water pump, fuel pump, or some $300 A/C flap thingamajigger that controls air flow between vents which remains working yet makes a terribly irritating noise lasting 32 seconds every time you start or stop the engine.
Clearly, I have digressed, and have absolutely no experience with such matters anyway.

And so it was that with the rise of globalization (and fall of the dollar), foreign companies opened up shop here...
Take for example BMW's impact in Greenville, South Carolina: 23,050 jobs paying $1.2 billion, etc. (source) from one such plant. Where's BMW's whining video?? Where's BMW's bailout?? They don't fucking need one because they do quality work - much like Honda, Nissan, Toyota and all other brands who are devouring Big 3's piece of the pie - and rightfully so.

I recently enjoyed an article about how American car companies can't lease cars anymore because they don't hold their value - when people turned their leases in, the company was stuck with a depreciated piece of shit and lost money by the truckload (no pun intended). So now they only sell them (or lack thereof), sticking the consumer with the piece of shit in 3-5 years, who subsequently will purchase a different brand the next time around - one that will not only run forever (provided they keep the oil changed), but the A/C and power windows will too.

Imagine that: Bush actually got it right when he told them to learn how to compete.
In short, we are witnessing the evolution of an industry in the face of capitalism, the excitement and effectiveness of which will be ruined by a bailout. Sorry for ranting.


And remember - if you see a car approaching with a foglight out, it's made by GM.

This video fails to mention that Toyota, Honda, Nissan as well as some German auto makers all have factories here in the US and they are doing very well. They, however, make fuel sensible cars that have a much higher reliability and much better resale value.

I, for one, would like to see a massive shake-up in the "Big 3". Flush out some of those highly overpaid executives and their multi-million dollar bonuses.

Sadly, there will be some people out of jobs and some pensions will be lost, but those money grubbing execs are the ones to blame for this. Why is it the taxpayer's responsibility to fix this mess they created? Where were the millionaire execs when I lost my job and almost lost my house? Oh, that's right, they were golfing.

They only touched on this man's great love for auto-racing. Hell, he has a special edition R30 Nissan Skyline named after him.