A popular 93-year-old former cab and dump truck driver turned sim racer has been given a care package from sim racing developer Kunos Simulazioni.
Millions of people have already watched the heartwarming video of a 93-year-old retired man enjoying racing games, and now Assetto Corsa developer Kunos Simulazioni has sent over a gift.
Assetto Corsa’s official Twitter account tweeted a new video from the Olivin.corp. YouTube account, with the video thumbnail showing the man and his grandson posing with Assetto Corsa boxes in front of their G923 wheel.
We first heard about the Sim Racing Grandpa in December of 2020 thanks to a video posted by his grandson to his YouTube channel. The original video is fast approaching 4,000,000 views. It shows the Japanese man enjoying himself driving on his Logitech G29 in the comfort of his home, since he surrendered his real driver’s license seven years ago.
A new video posted on July 16th shows the man and his grandson receiving a package from Italy. Inside the package were some nice gifts from Assetto Corsa developer Kunos Simulazioni. Kunos had sent keychains, t-shirts, and hats, each in duplicate so that both grandpa and grandson could enjoy them.
Midway through the video we see the nonagenarian smiling while wearing the new, bright red shirt and black hat each branded with Assetto Corsa logos.
The package sent by Kunos also contained a letter from Kunos co-founder and Executive Manager Marco Massarutto. In this letter, Marco not only expresses appreciation for the enduring passion shown by the grandfather, but also adds a personal note that the popular video made him “feel a great closeness to Urabe-San", since he drove a cab in Rome before moving into game development.
The letter closed with (blurred) Steam keys for a large collection of Kunos products, so the two can continue to enjoy themselves with Kunos products in the future.
This is another chapter in a fascinating story that shows not only what sim racing can mean to us as individuals, but also how our shared hobby and passion can bring us together.
