Man, “suzuka time.” That phrase just sort of bounced around in my head the other day. Don’t know why, really. Maybe I saw something online, or maybe it was just one of those random thoughts that hit you when you’re washing dishes.
So, I figured, why not? I remembered I had this old racing wheel and pedals, the kind you clamp to your desk. Been ages since I last used it. Probably five, six years? It was just sitting in the garage, gathering dust next to some old paint cans and a bike my kid outgrew.
Took me a solid afternoon to get the thing set up. First, I had to find all the bits. The wheel, the pedals, the power brick, the USB cable. You know how it is, things get separated over time. Then, of course, plugging it into my current computer was a whole other adventure. Drivers, software… a bit of a faff, to be honest. Modern PCs are great, but sometimes they make you jump through hoops for older gear.
Anyway, I eventually got it working. Fired up a racing sim I had, one of the older ones I still quite liked. And obviously, I went straight for Suzuka. It’s just one of those tracks, isn’t it? A proper challenge.
My first few laps? Absolutely dreadful. I mean, laughably bad. I was all over the place. Spinning out at the S-Curves, braking way too late for the hairpin, completely messing up the Degners. It was like I’d never driven a virtual car before. My hands felt clumsy on the wheel, my feet were stomping on the pedals like I was trying to kill a spider.
I almost packed it all up right then. Thought to myself, “Maybe this is just a young person’s game now,” or “My reflexes are shot.” It was genuinely frustrating. You remember being decent at something, and then you come back to it and you’re just… terrible.
But then I stopped. Took a breather. Made myself a cup of tea. And I thought, “Hang on, when did I last do this just for the fun of it, without any pressure?” Back in the day, I wasn’t trying to set world records. I was just mucking about, enjoying the feeling of driving these cool cars on cool tracks.
So, I went back. Loosened my grip on the wheel a bit. Tried to be smoother. Focused on hitting the apexes, not on the lap timer. And slowly, very slowly, it started to come back. Not all of it, mind you. I’m definitely not as quick as I once thought I was, or maybe as I used to be.
I didn’t set any blistering “suzuka time.” No records were broken, not even my own ancient personal bests, if I could even remember what they were. But I did manage to string together a few clean laps. I got into a rhythm. And for a little while there, it was just me and the track. That feeling of focus, the slight tension, the little kick from the force feedback… it was good. Properly good.
It’s funny, isn’t it? Sometimes we get so caught up in being “good” at things, or efficient, or whatever, that we forget why we started doing them in the first place. My “suzuka time” wasn’t about the stopwatch in the end. It was about finding a bit of that old enjoyment, dusting off a skill, and just… doing it. And that, I reckon, is time well spent.
