The How to Racing
Content
Roleplaying in a Street Racing enviorment The first thing you need to grasp is that the Fast and Furious series isn't a realistic portrayal of the world of illegal street racing: they are fictional action movies with the intent to entertain the viewer with high-octane action scenes and a lotta gearhead porn mixed in. The whole idea that every faction involved with street racing perpetuated that every faction needs to be the heist crew from the FnF movies plus the occasional azns to keep shit Tokyo Drift is what made decent roleplayers lose faith in the activity as a sub-genre: the real people that get involved with street racing are pretty much just people trying to get a cheap thrill out of dragging down a quarter mile with a honey by their side rather than off-the-boat millionaire japanese Yamaguchi-gumi affiliated hardened criminals drifting away in Mount Chilliad while hauling off a cargo of cocaine. The real people that get involved with street racing are pretty much your ordinary man/woman (that might be involved with criminal activities as much as your waiter in McDonalds be dealing meth off work.) who have real jobs and occupations aside from racing down the improvised drag strips and who happen to share a passion for the rush that the activity gives them. GETTING INTO THE SCENE The best way to get into the scene imo is to pretty much roleplay either a middle/low class teen or a young adult with a fascination for vehicles: obviously you wouldn't be able to afford a flashy riced out Supra at 18, so it's best and more original if you start off with older and less-racing associated vehicles like minivans and family sedans. Roleplay riding around in your dad's car every now and then and take a side job working as a waiter in the Pizza Stacks or any other place while making yourself cash to buy your "dream" ride: ride along in the scenic routes by the beach or the countryside and start carefuly fiddling around with some of the parts of the car. Keep getting educated about how the several parts of the car function and on general mechanics and keep checking out http://losangeles.craigslist.org/cta/ and the IG cardealerships for a matching car for a good deal at your first car: it doesn't have to be any particular type of car and it certainly doesn't need to be japanese import one. Take it to the car wash or give it a good ol' domestic hosedown if you're short on cash, start checking out and talking with fellow gearheads on the next big parts to install on your car and on how to tune your machine, dumb out with your mates on the public street at 2 AM and crash your wheels trying to be the 999th dude to immitate Ken Block. Eventualy, you're going to come in contact with someone that is involved in the racer world sooner or later: it could happen that you'd stumble upon a meet or even getting invited to come along over a conversation of a guy that is a usual redzoner who's willing to shout you a holler whenever the next meet is to happen. BEING IN THE SCENE It's ten in the night at a Friday and you just get the text from your go-to-guy saying that a meet is
about to take place by the Binco in ten minutes: a couple of friends that your guys knows want to have some fun and get a cheap trill before heading out to one of the several clubs in the Los Santos nightlife. A "meet" much like the word implies is a gathering of racers and other enthusiasts that come together for a certain period of time to test their machines and make (or lose) some cash or even their rides while at it: there's never an insane amount of preparation involving radio scanners and teams of people placing strategic roadblocks to prevent the fuzz from showing up and it's 99% at the times more of a spontaneous chain text message sent from the organizer to a list of people he knows are interested in the scene or simply his friends. Being or going to a meet doesn't imply that you're going there to race: you could be there to watch your friend tear down the asphalt in his Fierro or just to grab a beer and score with some hynas from East Los without even giving two shits about the race itself. Meets can be formal and informal: an informal meet would be pretty much a private small gathering of friends racing down for shits and giggles and a more formal/organized event would involve more people and more organization to it which is undertaken by the organizer: the organizer of the meet could be anyone who has cars and cash to spend ranging from Bob the Mechanic to Bernie the Mobster but The usual type of race chosen 99% percent of the times is the drag race which involves putting two cars in a competition to see who goes faster in a straight line from point A to B with variable distances: the winner is decided by a combination of their car's specifications and their own ability to change gears in the perfect timing. On the contrary to what most people think drift racing isn't exactly that much popular in the North American underground racing scene: sure, there's people that like to go over to empty car lots to pull some Ken Block like shit and the occasional mountain challenge but drag racing eclispes them in terms of popularity and the whole handling feel of MTA isn't proper or even fun imo to roleplay drifting.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A REDZONER Having been able to get into the scene doesn't and shouldn't change any of your character's daily routine: you're hardly going to get any richer out of it and if anything you're going to be mantaining a dangerous hobby that could be pretty expensive to keep up. Yup. Cars aren't indistructible nor everlasting to people that use them for regular commuting and constantly forcing your machine to the limits in an activity as stressing for the car as racing is is going to generate some wear and tear: engines are going to blow up someday and other parts are going to need replacing often and you're probably not going to make enough money out of winning races to support yourself and your machine.
Go out and fetch a job in one of the several legal factions or go over to one of the body shop factions if your character is knowledgable and interested in vehicles to the point of making them his livelyhood.
ORGANIZING YOUR OWN STUFF After you've gained some experience and made yourself a decent name with the community you can try your luck at starting to organize meets yourself: it's a tiring and complicated process which involves you having enough people and enough pull on the scene to make a profit out of it. Organize yourself with a couple or three guys and start networking and spreading the word around that there's a meet bound to happen in the next weekend or on the next friday night: obviously this isn't a job to advertise through LSNN so start contacting your fellow redliners and dit enthusiasts through text messages or through the social networks. After you've got enough people to get yourself a decent enjoyable meet get around to choosing the location of it: it doesn't have to be a location outside of Los Santos (loses all of the fun and the excitment imo) but you should go for a secluded location in the city with a straight strip of road to allow you to hold the races in and with enough room for people to chill in while watching and waiting for their turn to come up. I can't provide examples but I'm pretty sure that you'll quickly find good strips if you look closely and take your time to examine the city map: don't advertise the location of the race around much and only air it out on the day of the meet to prevent the fuzz from snooping up on it. On the day of the race send a mass text to your contacts informing them of the location of the meet: bring an icebox with Coors or anything else and try to make the meet anything more than just a street racing hub. Running bets from the races is also a profitable scheme to earn something out of it: get a couple of dudes collecting and let the audience place bets on the winner and collect a few bucks out of it. The success of your enterprise depends on your reputation and your name on the scene: if you get known for hosting enjoyable and fun meets in which you can have fun and socialize aside from racing they will come.
CLOSING REMARKS I hope that the guide helps to change people's perception of the illegal street racing community and that it educates future and current roleplayers interested in it.
about to take place by the Binco in ten minutes: a couple of friends that your guys knows want to have some fun and get a cheap trill before heading out to one of the several clubs in the Los Santos nightlife. A "meet" much like the word implies is a gathering of racers and other enthusiasts that come together for a certain period of time to test their machines and make (or lose) some cash or even their rides while at it: there's never an insane amount of preparation involving radio scanners and teams of people placing strategic roadblocks to prevent the fuzz from showing up and it's 99% at the times more of a spontaneous chain text message sent from the organizer to a list of people he knows are interested in the scene or simply his friends. Being or going to a meet doesn't imply that you're going there to race: you could be there to watch your friend tear down the asphalt in his Fierro or just to grab a beer and score with some hynas from East Los without even giving two shits about the race itself. Meets can be formal and informal: an informal meet would be pretty much a private small gathering of friends racing down for shits and giggles and a more formal/organized event would involve more people and more organization to it which is undertaken by the organizer: the organizer of the meet could be anyone who has cars and cash to spend ranging from Bob the Mechanic to Bernie the Mobster but The usual type of race chosen 99% percent of the times is the drag race which involves putting two cars in a competition to see who goes faster in a straight line from point A to B with variable distances: the winner is decided by a combination of their car's specifications and their own ability to change gears in the perfect timing. On the contrary to what most people think drift racing isn't exactly that much popular in the North American underground racing scene: sure, there's people that like to go over to empty car lots to pull some Ken Block like shit and the occasional mountain challenge but drag racing eclispes them in terms of popularity and the whole handling feel of MTA isn't proper or even fun imo to roleplay drifting.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A REDZONER Having been able to get into the scene doesn't and shouldn't change any of your character's daily routine: you're hardly going to get any richer out of it and if anything you're going to be mantaining a dangerous hobby that could be pretty expensive to keep up. Yup. Cars aren't indistructible nor everlasting to people that use them for regular commuting and constantly forcing your machine to the limits in an activity as stressing for the car as racing is is going to generate some wear and tear: engines are going to blow up someday and other parts are going to need replacing often and you're probably not going to make enough money out of winning races to support yourself and your machine.
Go out and fetch a job in one of the several legal factions or go over to one of the body shop factions if your character is knowledgable and interested in vehicles to the point of making them his livelyhood.
ORGANIZING YOUR OWN STUFF After you've gained some experience and made yourself a decent name with the community you can try your luck at starting to organize meets yourself: it's a tiring and complicated process which involves you having enough people and enough pull on the scene to make a profit out of it. Organize yourself with a couple or three guys and start networking and spreading the word around that there's a meet bound to happen in the next weekend or on the next friday night: obviously this isn't a job to advertise through LSNN so start contacting your fellow redliners and dit enthusiasts through text messages or through the social networks. After you've got enough people to get yourself a decent enjoyable meet get around to choosing the location of it: it doesn't have to be a location outside of Los Santos (loses all of the fun and the excitment imo) but you should go for a secluded location in the city with a straight strip of road to allow you to hold the races in and with enough room for people to chill in while watching and waiting for their turn to come up. I can't provide examples but I'm pretty sure that you'll quickly find good strips if you look closely and take your time to examine the city map: don't advertise the location of the race around much and only air it out on the day of the meet to prevent the fuzz from snooping up on it. On the day of the race send a mass text to your contacts informing them of the location of the meet: bring an icebox with Coors or anything else and try to make the meet anything more than just a street racing hub. Running bets from the races is also a profitable scheme to earn something out of it: get a couple of dudes collecting and let the audience place bets on the winner and collect a few bucks out of it. The success of your enterprise depends on your reputation and your name on the scene: if you get known for hosting enjoyable and fun meets in which you can have fun and socialize aside from racing they will come.
CLOSING REMARKS I hope that the guide helps to change people's perception of the illegal street racing community and that it educates future and current roleplayers interested in it.
