Midnight Club: Rosamond

Carrol Shelby. That is pretty awesome. Oh, and good luck with all the go kart stuff you have going on!!

Awesome! Wow, signed by Carroll Shelby!

wow wish ill have that kind of opportunities

OH ****. I'm now the most jealous MC:LA fan there is

For a racing nut like me, yesterday's << LINK REMOVED >> was a blast. Held at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA (not far from Palmdale, which is sort of not far from Los Angeles--see? There's always a connection.), the event gave game writers like me a chance to head out to the track, see some really hot cars, and get some time in with the game (check out my impressions << LINK REMOVED >>).

Beautiful car in the middle of nowhere

The highlight of the day (beyond checking out the multiplayer in the game) was riding in a car (the white Ford GT shown above) with a professional driver who tackled the lower ribbon of Willow Springs like a man possessed. As I told my camera man, it wasn't necessarily the speed of the car on the tight and twisty trick--it was actually a pretty slow lap, with few opportunities to really let the engine perform--but rather the sheer power of that tricked-out GT that knocked my socks off. Even with a relatively slow circuit, you could feel the power of the car coming out of every turn, tires squealing, tossing my head around like it was only attached to my neck with a few loose pieces of yarn.

A Shelby Cobra owned (and assembled) by a Rockstar employee

To say the least, it was awesome and, had I known how to drive stick, I would love to have given it a go myself. Yeah, I'm the racing game fan in the GameSpot offices and I don't know how to drive stick; I'll admit, it's pretty pathetic. That said, I did manage to dominate everyone else on staff at last weekend's go-kart race. So I've got that going for me.

More pics from the Midnight Club event below…

Inside the Shelby (signed by Carroll Shelby!)

Teh hotness. RAWK.

The closest I'll ever get to the interior of a Lamborghini.