History Analysis / RiceBurner

In practice, the trope got a big [[IncrediblyLamePun boost]] after the 2001 release of ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'', as a sizable number of car owners sought to emulate the glorious image of the franchise cars at the expense of true performance.

* True automobile tuning is expensive. [[RightForTheWrongReasons Not just as the summed up cost of parts and labor]], but as an investment in [[MrFixit spent time, documentation, experimenting, replacement of parts which ended up wrong, shorter maintenance intervals]]. The vast majority of modern drivers are trained since they get their license to just drive the car until it breaks or until some damn "idiot light" on the dash calls for a service at the dealer. Modding your car means to be prepared to know what it takes for maintenance and learn some mechanical and engineering tricks, even as you don't do it yourself and there is a workshop nearby for that, just as aircraft pilots have to know how their plane runs.

* Having a car modified for performance calls for increased driving ability, even moreso compared to a factory made sports car. Modern cars from [[TheAllegedCar the poorest econobox]] to the flashiest supercar are designed (by very knowledgeable people) to have a very safe road behavior '''if driven legally''', even if this dulls the manoeuvrability. Adding some horsepower, hardening the suspension, changing sway bars, fitting stickier tires may give an increased feeling of security and goad the driver into driving faster... until [[TheDogBitesBack the car bites back]] and wraps him or her around a tree. Each mod has to be followed by training, which calls for fuel, tires and time, which a young driver with little money may be short of.

* Some people may get away with speeding or road racing if they can avoid suspicion from the authorities, but this is exactly what a lot of [[LowerClassLout youngsters with little money and even less sense]] can't do. If your appearance calls for suspicion, you get it - [[BlatantLies unfairly, yes]]. Huge insurance rates, harassment from the police, being pulled over and ticketed a lot of times, punishments from the employer or being fired, even inability to get a decent job after some time and some bits added to your record.

Simple economics say it's much cheaper to be just a poseur with a flashy and kitschy bodykit on an underpowered crappy car than to emulate what true automobile enthusiasts do.

* True automobile tuning [[CaptainObvious is expensive]]. [[RightForTheWrongReasons Not just as the summed up cost of parts and labor]], but as an investment in [[MrFixit spent time, documentation, experimenting, replacement of parts which ended up wrong, shorter maintenance intervals]]. The vast majority of modern drivers are trained since they get their license to just drive the car until it breaks or until some damn "idiot light" on the dash calls for a service at the dealer. Modding your car means to be prepared to know what it takes for maintenance and learn some mechanical and engineering tricks, even as you don't do it yourself and there is a workshop nearby for that, just as aircraft pilots have to know how their plane runs.

In practice, the trope got a big [[IncrediblyLamePun boost]] after the 2001 release of ''TheFastAndTheFurious'', as a sizable number of car owners sought to emulate the glorious image of the franchise cars at the expense of true performance.

In practice, the trope got a big [[IncrediblyLamePun boost]] after the 2001 release of TheFastAndTheFurious, as a sizable number of car owners sought to emulate the glorious image of the franchise cars at the expense of true performance.