A 93-year old Japanese grandpa turned to virtual racing and is enjoying life in retirement while drawing attention at YouTube for his amazing driving skills. This grandpa, Ryuji Urabe, used to be a taxi driver and a driver of garbage trucks for 20 years before he retired. He later discovered video games as a way to continue his passion for driving at the racing level.
Impressed at the skill by which the ancient gamer tackles racing challenges, his grandson Koutarou Yamamoto, uploaded a video of him playing a racing simulator game on January 30, 2021. Since the first YouTube upload, the Japanese grandpa’s virtual racing videos have garnered over 500,000 views on the streaming platform and later, have spread to other social media platforms.
Actually, it’s not just the global netizens who are loving the videos of the 93-year old grandpa. Various companies have been sending him all sorts of items that can help improve his gaming comfort and experience while playing racing simulators.
A Loving Grandson’s Gesture Catapults Grandad to Internet Stardom
According to gaming review website Kotaku, this grandpa adores cars and has driven various classic Japanese models throughout the years. During the 60s, he was a taxi driver in Tokyo before he became a dump truck driver in the 1970s through 1990s. His love for cars remains and his grandson made it possible for him to reunite with his passion by teaching him how to play racing sim games.
After finding out about his granddad’s love for his former occupation, he came up with the idea of letting the old man play on his school laptop. Seeing how his grandfather has taken to virtual racing like it’s second nature, this loving grandson even upgraded his gaming setup by buying a huge flatscreen to make his grandpa’s gaming experience more realistic.
As the turns of events have it, this wholesome grandpa has been drawing fans from all over the world, interacting with him and flooding his YouTube channel with requests to drive various different types of cars.