Fast Times at CES 07

You're far more likely to see someone checking their BlackBerry at CES than you are to have them look you in the eye. This is nerd Mecca, after all, where geeks come to pray at the alter of gadget; a place where technology plays second fiddle to nothing but the next smaller, cooler piece of high tech whatever coming behind it.

Game companies don't put an awful lot of stock in CES; as a result there aren't a ton of hot new games here at this year's show. With a little digging, however, you don't have to look far to find something cool and game-related, however vague the connection.

Just before our live show, Rich told me about the Indy cars at the Intel booth. The phrase "Indy cars at the Intel booth" is enough to prick my racing-loving ears so that was my first stop this afternoon. What I found wasn't Indy cars at all, but rather reproduction BMW Sauber F1 cars, hooked up to some hot Dell XPS machines and running an F1 simulator, complete with wheel and pedals. Lucky for me the line wasn't too long before my next appointment, so I had a chance cram my 6'1" frame into a racing seat made for guy much, much smaller than me.

It's tough to convey how tight the fit of those F1 cars are. I could barely get my shoulders in between the sides of the seat and, once you're in, you're in; more laying down in the hard plastic than actually sitting. The helpful Intel employee hooked up my Logitech steering wheel and we were off to the races.

There wasn't any force feedback with the wheel and the car didn't move with the turns, but with a nice big screenshow in front of me, there was no doubting the sense of speed the game was providing. Two laps later and the race was over--and then I had haul myself out of the seat, which took a bit too long for comfort.

So yeah, beyond spending my morning learning how to cook and bake, the faux-F1 experience was the highlight of the day. Well, almost the hightlight of the day:

See you tomorrow.