I had to know how far I could go before I ran into a wall that could no longer be scaled. But it wasn’t enough to play casually anymore - I wanted, no I felt that I needed to keep going. It was an expensive hobby, especially for someone who was not old enough to hold a part time job, although I had a couple side hustles to bring in some spending money. At that point, I reflected about whether I should keep playing the arcade game. This was why it was such a surprise when that very urge started to take control of me, roughly one year after I had started my Initial D career.Īt that point, I was starting to build a reputation in the broader community and had achieved some impressive times and impressive victories, although by no means was I realistically considered one of the best in Canada, much less the world. To be honest, I did not see myself as one of the few people that would strive to be the best at anything. It is not enough to be good at something, for a certain subsection of the population, they need to be the best. And for some, the need to compete goes even further.

This ‘itch’ to compare ourselves with others manifests itself in many areas of life - people who compete at academics or sports, who fight, who use money as a proxy for life success - all in order to develop some sort of hierarchy and order. It also fulfills the drive in us to want to know how we stack up to others. Competition gives us the impetus to improve and when we do so, rewards us with a feeling of validation.

We want to improve, to gain that feeling that we are progressing forward and getting better. Competition is intoxicating, partially because it fulfills a certain need for validation that we humans all experience. So now I was in the game, and it was taking me over. If you haven’t already, please read Part One Here.

Initial d the game