[Jason]

Here's an entertaining read by Road & Track writer Jack Baruth discussing the psyche of THAT GUY on an internet car forum. He admits he's guilty of being one, and at some level and at some time, we've probably all been guilty of being THAT FORUM Guy (or girl)

Inside the Mind of 'That Guy' on an Internet Car Forum

Jack Baruth knows what "That Forum Guy" is thinking. Why? Because he is one too.

Read the full article at: http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...rnet-car-forum

I found a quarter-mile time. Then another. Then I found a discussion about how the CB1100's speed limiter cuts in before the end of the quarter mile. So I started calculating what the "potential" quarter-mile might be. I didn't like some of the times gotten by various magazines, so I searched until I found a time and a trap speed that I liked, then I started calculating further, and then...

My God, I've become That Forum Guy.

That Forum Guy, on the other hand.... That Forum Guy has never driven any of the cars we drive and review here at R&T. More often than not, he's never even seen the cars in the metal. But he has a favorite car. He's read every article on that car. He's carefully chosen his favorite quarter-mile time and his favorite skidpad rating and his favorite laptime, usually from three different sources. If our real-world testing doesn't meet or beat those times, it's because we're idiots or we're deliberately sabotaging his favorite car. Obviously any negative comments about "his" car will enrage him, but even comments that aren't sufficiently positive are enough to arouse his ire.

The aerodynamic whistle I heard from the GT4 in side winds? I made it up. That Forum Guy got a ride in his friend's GT4 and there was no whistle. The Ferrari's trap speed in the quarter-mile? Totally fake. We either lifted at the end or we didn't know how to hold the accelerator all the way down. That Forum Guy has recalculated our lap times based on corner speeds that he thinks can be achieved in the Kentucky summer because he's seen a video taken from Laguna Seca or Mont Tremblant. That Forum Guy knows that we should use So-And-So to set the laptimes. Which usually causes another Forum Guy to call the qualifications of that suggested driver into question based on the comparison of a YouTube video he saw and a segment from Top Gear, and to suggest his own favorite driver instead. Continue at R&T.

[vsix]

Hell NO! lol!

[8k4]

He's bringing this up because of the performance car of the year article. The Viper guys laid into him, rightfully so, he then commented on their board. Jack seems like a decent guy however

[MChat]

Meh, I always take the "magazine" times with a grain of salt. Most of the time the drivers have limited seat time, never really get a chance to get used to a particular car which would improve pretty much every performance statistic they publish.

Case in point: with my previous car the magazines got anywhere from 14.2 to 14.4 quarter mile times. My first time out I ran 14.4's; 2 months later after much more seat time I ran a best of 13.7 (still completely stock). Am I just a better driver than the magazine guys? Probably not, I simply got used to the car, found the sweet spots (how to launch, what the optimal shift points were for each gear, etc...)

Does that make me "THAT guy"? Probably not, but owners that get better times than the magazine do give credibility to the "THAT guy"'s argument.

[x.shell]

Me, being one of those "That-Forum-Guys", I stay away from the M4 GTS section because there are too many "That-Forum-Guys" in there. We don't like competition.

[MKSixer]

Forum Rule Number One should be:

If you haven't driven CAR X for at least 100 miles in varied conditions, please don't comment on how awful Car X is and what an affront to all of autodom it represents.

Just my .02

And yes...we have all been that guy/gal.

And in that spirit one more pet peeve: Comparison test of cars conducted on 18 different makes and compounds of tires. Really? Put identical tires on all cars in the test and remove that as a performance variable.

The quickest way to improve the performance of any car is to stick a set of DOT Legal Race Compound tires on it and turn it loose on the unsuspecting public.