At 3AM when Hinata-chan is balling, and I can't justify a trip to the garage, I started playing GT4 again. Driving simulator games, especially GT4, are sweet and lame at the same time. Sweet in that they've helped me think a lot about real driving when I haven't in a long time, but lame in that, the time I have spent playing seems entirely wasteful, and I'd much rather have spent the time wrenching or... turning the wheel. But my mission since I re-started playing GT4 has been to go as far as possible with an NA AE86. In the end, it hasn't been that far, but I'll say... that I've been able to go a lot further than initial impressions gave, and it's all a result of spending time tuning gear ratios for particular tracks. The difference has actually been spectacular, and it's lead me to think more seriously about real life gear ratios and what can be done about them. [...]