For this digital assignment, which prompts you to make a useful sound to upload to FreeSound, the public sound gallery that we’ve been using in this unit, I decided to do a vocal impression of a car. This could be funny to include in a hand-drawn animation or some other comedy content. I find it really interesting when human-made sound effects are dubbed onto machines and other audio sources in animation. One of the best examples of this is Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises, which I highly recommend you watch.
This obsession with the car, the R35 Nissan GTR, began long ago. Often, the car is noted as a car “for twelve-year-olds,” and for me, it was no different. The car had this boxy, futuristic design and a loud, obnoxious sound that gave it instant appeal. Of course, it was fast and highly innovative, but it was a symbol of something more. Many young YouTubers and rich celebrities set their sights on this car, even if they were just 16 years old. The car represented freedom, leisure, and fun. I, just like other young car geeks, would set the car as our phone wallpaper or watch endless hours about its statistics, performance, and engineering.
But now, I’ve moved on. I like crappy cars now! Just like my ’79 pickup, my car taste has certainly matured. I like the underdogs, the old, the decrepit. While the TikTok kids gawk at the lime-green Porsche 911’s and Pagani’s, I go nuts when I see a Triumph TR6.
It just goes to show how the naivety of youth can completely blind you to realistic standards of what you can achieve. The Nissan GTR is still cool, and as the new generation of twelve-year-olds and the company itself move on, I find myself admiring it even more. It truly was a special moment in time.
Do you have a favorite sports car of that era? What do you drive? Share down below!