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Jann Mardenborough Is Proof That Playstation Pays

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Jann Mardenborough Playstation Toyota Racing

I’ve won my share of Super Bowls in Madden and even have a couple NBA Live titles under my belt. But sadly, I never capitalized on turning my virtual skills into real world success like Jann Mardenborough.

During Nissan’s press conference at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show, the company introduced Mardenborough, an incredibly accomplished member of the Nissan Racing team who got his start at the controls a of PS3 controller.

In 2011, Mardenborough won the Nissan GT Academy competition by beating 90,000 entrants in Gran Turismo, thus earning him an opportunity to drive for Nissan at the Dubai 24 Hour endurance race at age 19. Prior to winning the GT Academy, Mardenborough had no racing or motorsports experience, except at the sticks of his controller.

Fast forward four years and the 23-year-old driver is an accomplished member of the Nissan Racing team. This year, he will become the first GT Academy winner to race in the Le Mans P1 for Nissan.

The Playstation to professional story is pretty incredible, but more importantly, it confirmed the following beliefs from my childhood.

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Playstation pays. Homework sucks. And I’m the fastest kid in the 6th grade.

We caught a portion of an interview with Mardenborough at the Chicago Auto Show, which you can watch below.

Brian is a writer focusing on the automotive world. After running his 2000 Ford Taurus into the ground, he fell head over heels for a 2013 Mazda3, because Skyactiv Technology. Duh.

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Car WTFs

The Most Interesting Aspects of the Dodge Demon

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hellcat demon engine

Many of us thought that the Dodge Challenger Hellcat was about as intimidating as a car could get. After all, people couldn’t hardly get them off the lot without crashing them when they first came out. Then Dodge upped the ante with the new Demon. But aside from the raw power, there are some other interesting aspects of the new Demon.

Check out the video below for a full rundown of just how unique this car is.

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Car WTFs

Mercedes Names May Be Getting More Confusing

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mercedes naming gls coupe

Think you finally have your Mercedes names mastered? Well, a new challenge appears to be coming, friend.

How to now identify Mercedes models by name

Some moves in the northwoods of Canada by the brand appear to signal a change in the naming conventions that will be used for Mercedes and AMG models. Candian trademarks have been filed for  A 40, CLA 40, SLC 40, SLC 50 and GLE 50 in addition to CLA 53, G73 and S73.

If this proves true in the states, it would signal an end to the rule of two digits for Mercedes, three-digits for AMG counterparts. The new world would be two digits, ending in a “0” for Mercedes, and two digits ending in a “3” for AMG. This supports rumors of  an AMG ‘73’ model with a hybrid powertrain.

While this change isn’t terribly difficult to comprehend, it certainly makes things interesting when comparing legacy and upcoming Mercedes models. There are a lot of numbers to keep straight, and a lot of explaining to do. And the letter and number combos leave something to be desired in terms of cachet.

Oh, it’s got cachet baby!

It makes one appreciate the simplicity of giving each vehicle an actual name, like the domestic manufacturers do. Sure, that’s how we ended up with the Chevy Nova, but what are you going to do? There are only so many names, surely one for an automobile would end up meaning “no go” in some language, right?…

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Car WTFs

What’s with Toyota’s weird shifter pattern?

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"What's the Toyota's weird shifter pattern?" image of 2011 Toyota Camry shifter

I like my car. It’s a 2011 Toyota toaster, I mean Camry. If you made a list of everything a car has to do, the Camry would check all the boxes. It gets me from point A to point B with the consistency a learning golfer would envy. It’s a toaster. You put in the bread, choose your level of toastiness, push down the thingy and then wait for it to pop up. But there is one interesting thing about my car. The shifter. That’s it up there. That is definitely not conventional at all. So, what’s with Toyota’s weird shifter pattern? (more…)

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