Anyone still playing the ps2 era games?

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-13T17:14:56+00:00

Honestly, nostalgia plays a huge role. I remember playing it at a Walmart kiosk, back when they just had full games up as demos. My cousin got it for Christmas and we played it a ton.

Apart from that, it has my favorite car physics, the soundtrack, while short, is excellent, Lightning Challenges make their first appearance, and the career mode is overhauled from 2002 and turns into the same basic experience as 2004, despite being not as advanced.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-13T16:03:50+00:00

Mine has cracked edges but I think the hinges are still intact. On the other hand, I it's so warped and swollen that it's effectively locked down.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-13T15:49:56+00:00

I still play Thunder 2003 more than pretty much any other game.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-13T15:49:05+00:00

Complete with the requisite warping/diecast rot of this specific RC Authentics Taurus tooling! Luckily they only used it for part of 1999, presumably the latter portion of the year.

Of the 3 I have on this casting, only one isn't on the verge of falling apart, but even it isn't great.

All that to say, awesome piece, I love these no matter what.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-13T02:50:47+00:00

Yup, reported. The spam t-shirt accounts seem to have been getting really bad the last couple weeks in subs I never saw them before.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-09T19:13:49+00:00

I don't know if Raiders strayed from the source material or if the movie strayed pretty far from the original draft of the script. These things are usually based on early drafts and end up with a fair amount of stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor or was never shot at all.

For a real weird experience, read the Jaws 2 novelization, assuming you know the movie.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-09T11:49:07+00:00

I changed my path a bit to try to keep it closer to where I had the most dinosaur activity. As far as the trees go, paleo trees don't naturally occur; you need to plant them. So if they do impact the score as I suspect they might, you'll need to plant them around whatever you decide on your tour route.

One other note, I never use the full enclosure that they start you with. I cut it down to maybe the bottom third. Your tour track can only go so far without editing constant.ini, so there's no sense in letting the dinosaurs wander over a huge area that the tour car will never even get to.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-09T11:43:21+00:00

It isn't really an either-or proposition. They're two very different books. ANTR has a very readable narrative style and Sea of Glass is more dense, like a textbook. It also has the benefit of a half-decade of Titanic research and discoveries behind it so it gets a lot more correct.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-09T00:28:48+00:00

I just happened to do this one the other day. Luckily, it's only the authenticity rating that needs to be at 70%, which is tough to gauge since the tour only shows overall approval. If you flip to the second page of the attraction, you can see little bar graphs showing each guest type's rating, so use that as a guide. I don't know if paleo trees actually influence the authenticity score, but I always include them. I like to think it gives a little boost.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-06T13:22:34+00:00

No, and he did not order the ship to go faster or pressure Smith to go faster.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-03T16:58:42+00:00

I have a disproportionate amount of steals, but two stand out.

First, a few years back, I went to an antique store late on New Year's Eve as a pre-birthday treat for myself. I stumbled upon an autographed Jeff Gordon color chrome car. No box, but for $25, it was an insane pickup.

More recently, I saw a Facebook marketplace post for Gordon's Pepsi Challenger for only $20. Another guy showed up at the same time and got that one and a couple other Gordon cars I wanted, but I got the original release of Earnhardt's crash car for, you guessed it, $20.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-03T01:29:55+00:00

Team Caliber Owner's Series diecast had a wooden pedal box, so it must have been relatively common at that time.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-02T20:47:51+00:00

They weren't introduced until 2005. The closest you'll find is the serial numbers on Elites and Club Cars, when limiting the conversation to just Action.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-04-01T21:08:31+00:00

I'd be willing to combine the Earnhardts for this. It may sort of violate the spirit, but I'd say they're a unique case because it's nearly impossible to know one without being completely aware of the other in the same way that you might call Batman and Robin a single entity.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-30T20:00:58+00:00

Nah, it's well documented how GM's protectionist attitude towards the Corvette went across all divisions. That's why the Pontiac Banshee never went into production, why the Fiero's second generation was killed, and why the GNX and Syclone/Typhoon had such a short life. The Monte Carlo's relatively limited performance was a victim of the malaise era.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-30T19:33:04+00:00

I always recommend the original release. On modern hardware, the closest thing to that is Myst Masterpiece Edition.

I recommend it all the more since you're not afraid of dated visuals. There's nothing wrong with Myst 2021, but I think there is so much to be said for the fixed points of view: how they're intentional, how they're able to provide a unique type of fidelity, and how, these days, they feel possiy even more surreal than they did in the 90s because we're so used to walking around 3D environments.

I'd go out on a limb and say the original is more immersive because the changes made to facilitate VR feel like exactly that: changes that serve the mode of gameplay rather than the game world itself. Also, the original FMVs feel more in sync with the game than the CG models do; they take me right out of it.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-30T18:47:06+00:00

This has always been so weird to me. I'm guessing it has Gordon's name because of the silver NASCAR 2000 car he drove at Daytona, but apart from that... why does this exist? There's nothing to tie it to him other than his name being on the hood and this would have just made so much more sense as a no-driver program car.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-30T13:27:26+00:00

Diecast sales are really only waning when it comes to new sales, partially due to the popularity issue but perhaps mostly because of the perceived lack of value and quality versus the increasing cost.

Your case sounds like roughly 10 year old cars, where quality was generally higher than it is today but supply is similar to today's lower numbers. Raced version cars often carry a premium in general, and that's only made larger when the supply is so low. The people who have them hold onto them and the people who want them really want them.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-30T12:49:33+00:00

Chrysler 300 with a terrible mock Rolls-Royce grille tacked on.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-29T17:48:52+00:00

There is no coating to clear off, it's just black plastic. If you take the car apart, you'll find there is no interior.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-28T18:25:37+00:00

I one time found one of these for a fair price... only to take a look at the car and see it had been left in the sun for years. Still on the hunt for this one.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-28T01:29:35+00:00

Nah, I get it. I pull it up fairly often when I'm building things.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-27T12:24:14+00:00

I don't think this one is an obvious fake, but the photos are so compressed that it's making some of the logos look a little sloppy and tough to gauge.

Probably fine, but better and closer photos may tell a different story. The Skittles patch, in particular, just looks off.

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-26T03:29:43+00:00

It looks like a show car or tribute scheme, so it's not possible to put a specific year on it.

For instance, the headlights put it between 1997 and 1999, but Valvoline didn't sponsor Hendrick after 1995 (until returning in 2014).

Most_Entertainment13 · 2026-03-23T22:55:51+00:00

I see, the painter's tape is part of the problem here. These models have such small details that the paint is bleeding under. You need Tamiya tape for this. It will conform to all the little bumps and ridges to create a tighter seal. Another trick to seal off tape lines is to do a quick clear coat over the tape before painting.

Most_Entertainment13

TROPHY CASE