It’s peculiar... People change so much through the years. But despite that, we always think the current version of us, our hobbies, our tastes, our favorite books, movies, and shows, THIS version of ourself is the correct version. Nowwww we’ve got it all figured out. Never mind that we thought our airbrushed jean jacket was the pinnacle of human fashion achievement not that long ago. Never mind that we were convinced it was the perfect idea to run away with our high school crush and get married. And never mind that we would have died for Team Edward just a few short years ago. Ok, maybe that one hasn’t changed.

The point is we all change over the years. It’s inevitable. I am a different person in my thirties than I was in my twenties, and I am dramatically different now than I was in my teens. I can think back to so many decisions I made and all of the ridiculous hills I died on and just cringe. I try to be cognisant of this now and be wiser about it. And I wonder who I’ll be in my forties, after these next ten formative years. But, amidst the uncertainty, there is one thing we know for sure: Change is constant.

Accept… sometimes…

Sometimes, love transcends change. And, ever since I can remember, I have loved cars and I have loved games.

Can you remember the first car you ever started with in Gran Turismo? I can. Can’t remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, but I can remember the exact moment I purchased my used Honda Prelude VTEC and tore through the Sunday Cup. That was in 1998. I was twelve. I can remember sleeping over with a buddy and racing all night to save up enough money to buy a Dodge Viper GTS, blue with white stripes. We cheered like we’d won the lottery. It was our pixelated treasure and we revered it as divine.

I can remember the first time my group of friends piled around and watched The Fast and the Furious. It’s a meme now, but that movie was sensational in 2001. It unironically started a movement. We were all sixteen, with freshly minted licenses and underpowered commuter cars, and we were ready to take on the world.

Initial D. Tokyo Xtreme Racer. Gone in 60 Seconds. Need for Speed: Underground. Forza Motorsport. It’s crazy to think about the impact that all of these have had.

I can remember the first time I turned over an engine that I had swapped. That overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and joy, just listening to it idle. How one-hundred-and-forty horsepower felt like one-million.

Twenty-plus years of automotive bliss.

And all the while, I was gaming.

I can remember arguing at way too early of an age that unpurchased properties go to auction, and you absolutely do NOT put a bunch of money on free parking.

I remember the teen me feeling like a strategic genius when he discovered Risk and won his first game. Annnnnd also remember the time I turned over a board when my army of twenty got defeated by a defending army of three because I rolled peanuts about a dozen times.

And let’s not forget the hundreds of hours spent studying and tweaking and obsessing over the perfect Magic deck. The satisfaction of an impeccably harmonic deck, and the disappointment of a deck strategy that abruptly falls apart.

Then, of course, there is the moment that I discovered deck building games, my favorite type of game!

Somehow, during these two decades of obsessing over cars and games, it never occurred to me until late 2015 to inquire into the possible existence of a Car Game. I mean, surely someone had thought of this? Mixing the two greatest things in the world? No way could something like this not exist!

To my utter dismay, I was not able to find any existing attempt to blend these two things. It didn’t make any sense. Tuner culture is absolutely ubiquitous. The Forza, Gran Turismo, and Fast and Furious franchises combine for over ten-billion dollars in sales. Meanwhile, tabletop games are a multi-billion dollar industry, and account for over a third of all crowdfunding revenue.

I had toyed with the idea of creating a game before. I had created prototype games just for fun, as a hobby. I even designed a custom Frozen themed version of Ascension for my Disney obsessed wife’s birthday! And suddenly, I had the peanut butter-and-chocolate “aha” moment I needed to drive me into action. I knew I was going to create a Car Game! Since then, I’ve been working to capture the magic of tuner culture within a competitive deck builder.

So, maybe you used to swear by a nice, comfortable pair of JNCO jeans. Maybe you used to rock a mullet. Or maybe you were absolutely obsessed with your Beanie Baby™ collection. It’s ok, we all change. But if you will always love cars and you will always love games, I invite you to join me in playing Motorsport!