Line #65 Main/RiceBurner


1	%%
2	%%
3	%%
4	%%
5	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
6	%%
7	%%
8	%%
9	%%
10	%%
11	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rice_rocket_6.jpg]]
12	[[caption-width-right:350:[[IWantMyJetpack You want your flying car?]] Here you go!]]
13
14	->''"With all the money that these morons dump into modification, they could have saved up and bought a real sports car in a couple of years instead of pretending like they drive one now."''
15	-->-- '''Maddox''', ''Website/TheBestPageInTheUniverse'', [[http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=civic "You Drive A Honda Civic, Not A Race Car"]]
16
17	Any ordinary consumer car that has had its outer body modified to give the impression that it's a high-performance vehicle. These modifications will be almost [[AwesomeButImpractical purely aesthetic]] and do nothing to actually improve the car's performance. The fact that the owner thinks otherwise [[VehicleBasedCharacterization shows you the kind of person who would drive one]].
18
19	As such, these are the kinds of things they will have:
20	* A spoiler on the trunk, supposedly to create downforce and bring the car closer to the road and thus reduce air resistance. The owner may have learned this from racecars doing this -- except ordinary cars don't go nearly fast enough to make use of a spoiler, and as most cars are front-wheel-drive, a rear-mounted spoiler won't improve performance even if they ''do'' go fast enough for it to have an effect. What's worse is that they should be custom-built for the car in question, but most rice burners just have a hunk of plastic bolted to the trunk (the page image is admittedly an extreme case).[[note]]In most real extreme cases, it's a cheap piece of plastic adhered to the trunk by heavy-duty double-sided tape, made by people who specifically target ricer schmucks like these.[[/note]]
21	* Big, loud exhaust pipes, or "fart cannons", which make everything sound [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound louder and better]], because powerful engines tend to be noisy, so making your car noisy will, if it doesn't make it faster, at least give people around you the impression that it is ([[LoudOfWar whether or not they care about it]]). The owner may have heard that a wider exhaust can improve performance, but this only applies to the whole exhaust system, so attaching a loud device to the end of the exhaust isn't going to change anything.
22	* Aftermarket body kits and overly cambered tires ("stanced" or "hellaflush") to bring the car lower. These can actually reduce performance by making the car heavier and more difficult to handle. Also, ordinary cars have to deal with things like speed bumps and poorly maintained roads that can ruin the extra bodywork -- or even critical car components if you're not careful. Legitimate lowering jobs are often very expensive and involve hydraulic or magnetic components, rather than just trimming the springs with an angle grinder, and few (if any) good shops will stance a vehicle meant as a daily driver.
23	* Imitation badges and hood scoops to make it look like a different (and "better") car.
24	* Aesthetics like racing stripes and bright paint jobs to [[RedOnesGoFaster make it seem faster]] (and which have no effect on the car's performance). Modern examples will typically also have their social media handles displayed on the vehicle, almost always their Instagram and often their Snapchat and [=TikTok=] handles as well, and will also list their affiliation if they belong to a local car league.
25	* Fire extinguishers, to give the impression that the car is [[AwesomenessIsVolatile so fast and awesome, it might catch fire]]. It might indeed catch fire, but more because badly installed engine mods and shoddy wiring can make it a fire hazard.[[note]]Many safety offices often advise people to keep a fire extinguisher in the trunk of the car anyway- if anything, at least you can help put out fires in road accidents, although that does come with its own problems.[[/note]]
26	* Extremely loud and usually bass-heavy sound systems to emulate competition-level setups, never mind that a proper competitive setup can easily carry a five-figure price tag (between component and installation costs); their shit may be loud, but cheap speakers from a department or auto parts store haphazardly wired to the center console are not even close to what you'd see in a show car and are prone to blowing out, in addition to being a fire hazard thanks to often-questionable wiring jobs.
27
28	The name derives from the perception that many of the cars so modified are Japanese, and tend to be thought of as boring, underpowered economy cars. This of course leads to UnfortunateImplications, which has led there to be alternative terms for cars from different parts of the world (''e.g.'' "pasta rockets" for Italian cars, "wheat burners" for American cars, or "kraut burners" for German cars[[note]]Within Germany, there is a whole [[GermanHumour genre of jokes]] about Opel Manta drivers who are seen to represent all the stereotypes of rice burners.[[/note]] -- not that this makes anything better), and the creation of the [[FunWithAcronyms backronym]] "RICE" (for "Race-Inspired Cosmetic Enhancement"). The term "rice burner" or "ricer" is a more American phenomenon; Brits would call them "chaviots" (from the derogatory term "chav", meaning LowerClassLout); Russians would call the process "ara-tuning" ("Armenian tuning", hinting at its popularity in the Caucasus region); Poles would use the term "agro-tuning" ("agriculture-tuning", suggesting this is a specialty of [[HalfWittedHillbilly yokels from the countryside]]); and Japanese have "{{Itasha}}" (a rice burner with an additional [[{{Otaku}} embarrassing fanboy]] aesthetic) and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekotora "dekotora"]] (for "decorated truck", the same principle but applied to big rigs). The kind of people who would drive such a car have long been known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_racer "boy racers"]] (or "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoon hoons]]" in parts of the British Commonwealth).
29
30	A SubTrope of PimpedOutCar. See also RedOnesGoFaster and AwesomeButImpractical. HummerDinger is usually the SUV/offroader equivalent. {{Thememobile}}s, if [[GoneHorriblyRight done right]], almost always fall into this trope.
31
32	----
33	!!Examples:
34
35	[[foldercontrol]]
36
37	[[folder:Advertising]]
38	* [=DiGiorno=] had an ad stating their pizzas were not delivery pizzas. Their pizza sizzling in the customer's own oven was compared against a delivery pizza being thrashed about in a riced-out Honda Civic hatchback, complete with lowrider hydraulics.
39	* An Australian ad for Medibank Private (a health insurance company) has one of the actors sitting in front of a car like this (with the neon lighting strips lit up) saying how he doesn't want to spend money on stuff he doesn't need.
40	* A Snapple commercial had two factory workers put various toys and little lights on the Snapple bottles. With the end of the commercial being the foreman explaining to the workers that it was what's inside of Snapple that made it the best tea on earth.
41	* A series of T-Mobile To Go commercials made fun of this trope, creating a Poser Mobile with a super low profile, gold/fluorescent paint, giant "hood rocket", and roof and rear spoiler.
42	* {{Parod\|y}}ied in a Toyota Prius ad that had people showing off stock Priuses (Prii?) at a rally like they were modified this way.
43	-->'''Guy #1:''' ''(gestures at the rims)'' Are those stock?\
44	'''Guy #2:''' Factory.
45	* Volkswagen;
46	** Volkswagen had an ad campaign for the VW Golf GTI that mocked the Rice Burner phenomenon, where Creator/PeterStormare would "unpimp ze auto" in a rather destructive fashion, butchering rapper speak the whole time with a fake German accent.
47	** A later commercial had a middle-aged woman drive to the store in a riced-out Honda Del Sol. The car features a garish paint job and a body kit (which is not painted the same as the rest of the car). The trunk is occupied by a large stereo system preventing the woman from putting her groceries inside. After she gets home, her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend get home in a Volkswagen Touran and he exchanges keys with the mother. As he leaves, the boyfriend asks "Why do we have to take your mom's car?"
48	* Nicely sent up in an advertisement for microwaveable snacks, showing young people meeting to show off their microwaves, complete with flame jobs, spoilers, and sound systems.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
52	* ''Manga/InitialD''. The series as a whole has examples that span the entire range between Rice Burner and [[WhatAPieceOfJunk Sleeper Car]]. Takumi Fujiwara's car is an aversion to the trope (the only cosmetic changes it undergoes are work-related; The car's also used for take-out deliveries). Later on in the series, it does get at least one modification - specifically, a carbon-fiber hood. [[spoiler:Of course, this is after Takumi blows the original engine and his father puts in a ''Group A racing engine'', and he joins Ryosuke Takahashi's super-team "Project D", which is comprised of the best amateur racers in Gunma Prefecture.]] And even then it's still pretty much a Sleeper, between the tofu shop advertisements and the general body panel damage.
53	* One story arc in ''Manga/OverRev'' deals with the "Stock Car Wolf," an aspiring auto engineer who was obsessed with his father's "perfect" designs to the point that when his car was stolen and vandalized into a rice burner, he turned into a KnightTemplar who challenged owners of modded cars to race against his stock model, with the stipulation that if (''when'') they lost, [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity their cars would be taken and stripped of their mods.]] [[spoiler:It takes losing to a "super stock" car - one that has been "modded" with subtle improvements to the original parts (in reality, restoring the original vision of the car engineers, before the marketing department messed up the specs) - to make him see reason.]]
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	%%[[folder:Comic Books]]
57	%%* Wei-Chen's car at the end of ''ComicBook/AmericanBornChinese''.
58	%%[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
61	* The Delinquent Road Hazards in the Pixar film ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'' are rice burners who bump Mack around on the road.
62	%% * There's also Kabuto, the main villain of ''[[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Tokyo Mater]]''.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
66	* Mocked in ''Film/AliGIndahouse'', when he and his posse "race" them down the mean streets, careful to stay within the speed limit at all times.
67	* Although all the cars in ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' and its sequels are high performance, they are commonly accused of promoting this in {{real life}}.
68	** The first movie and ''Tokyo Drift'' in particular. All cars we see racing in the former are purpose-built for racing; Brian's Supra can kill a Ferrari with ease. While ''Tokyo Drift'''s Japan segment doesn't have any straight-line racing, that doesn't mean the cars lack power. Remember Han's "Mona Lisa" Nissan Silvia? Skyline GT-R engine. Besides, Sean's car in the states is a nice [[InvertedTrope inversion]]: a beat-up Monte Carlo that not only would make [[Film/DeathProof Stuntman Mike]] proud, but it can also keep up with a [[CoolCar Dodge Viper SRT-10]].
69	** ''2Fast 2Furious'' is the only part in the series that really plays this trope straight - with those two Mitsubishis supplied by the police. Brian gets a green Lancer Evolution, and Rome picks a purple Eclipse convertible. Both have flashy paint jobs and vinyls, but all that seems to be modded under the hoods is that the [=ECUs=] are bugged for surveillance. They require Brian and Rome's leet driving skills to outrun police cruisers, not to mention beating [[CoolCar a Hemi Challenger and a Yenko Camaro]] in a race.
70	* The Honda Civic in ''Film/GranTorino'' is a perfect example of this trope. Fear that this will happen to the title car [[spoiler:manages to sneak into the will-reading at the end]].
71	* Inspector Clouseau's Citroën 2CV-based "Silver Hornet" as seen in ''Film/RevengeOfThePinkPanther'' looks like a riced-up Batmobile, [[TheAllegedCar but is prone to falling apart on the driver]].
72	* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' reveals Boles Roor's Podracer from ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' to be this. This is further reinforced by the fact that, to quote the ''VideoGame/StarWarsEpisodeIRacer'' page on Website/ThisVeryWiki, it has an average default speed and [[MightyGlacier the maneuverability of a drunk Hutt.]] However, the Podracer [[MagikarpPower can be upgraded to become one of the fastest racers in the game.]] Allegedly Roor spends more time on his singing career than on working on his Podracer ([[PutOnABus even quitting to be a full-time singer]] in ''Racer Revenge''), leading to him falling into this trope. This is despite the fact that he somehow [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome managed to win the Boontha Eve Classic twice.]]
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
76	* In ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'', one of Drive's various car-themed powerups is a dekotora called Deco Traveller. It's not seen very often and Drive hasn't even used its powers himself, but on its own, it can generate chains to ensnare enemies. The tie-in movie also features a full-size dekotora as one of the vehicles that the villain takes control of to send after the heroes.
77	* Parodied on ''Series/MadTV1995''. Bobby Lee plays a character [[https://youtu.be/vzjvwDsy5G0 who tries to use his riced-up car to pick up women]]. He claims his Daewoo could bounce but it's actually his friend in the trunk.
78	* Due to the rules of the show, ''Series/MonsterGarage'' was an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of this. For all of the modifications they did, the cars had to look stock, barring any obvious changes that were needed because of what kind of monster they were making that week.
79	** One time where the "must appear to be stock" did not apply started with a Rice Burner. It was a Pontiac Firebird that was given the body of a Ferrari Testarossa. The stock rule was waived because the goal was to make a parade float. The end result? ''The Evil Santa Float''.
80	** One such monster was the Datsun Honey Bee Drift Car, one of the world's most uncool cars (Jesse liked it for that very reason), which was gutted and filled with the insides of a [[CoolCar Nissan 350Z]]. At one point, they noticed the two cars had different wheelbases and the 350Z's tires would be sticking out of the Honey Bee's chassis; Jesse said the whole point of the build was to keep the Honey Bee's uncool look while giving it the heart of a beast.
81	* MTV's ''Series/PimpMyRide'' is largely based on this trope. Those customizations were, of course, done by professionals who know how to finely tune the car's performance to make the spoilers practical. Of course, that didn't prevent the producers from [[ExecutiveMeddling suggesting]] extremely inane and impractical modifications like having an in-car fish tank or a set of PSP conveyor belts in the trunk, the source of the "Yo dawg, I heard you like X" {{meme\|ticMutation}}. This led to West Coast Customs leaving the show.
82	* Kryten does this to ''himself'' in the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Krysis", getting fitted with a Ferarri red shell with a head-spoiler, flashing lights, and shoulder-mounted speakers as the mechanoid equivalent of a MidLifeCrisisCar.
83	* Evaluated many times on ''Series/TopGear'':
84	** In Season 2 they asked for viewer submissions of such modifications. In Episode 8 they presented them with some of the most notable ones being:
85	*** A Citroën ZX with two oversized spoilers and a blocky body kit that looked like it was on a repair ramp and "took the ramp with it".
86	*** A car that had all manner of metal sheeting and other junk attached that was best described as being magnetized and driven "through a branch of Halfords."
87	*** A car with the interior being the inverse and having the ''interior'' filled with junk including over a dozen gauges, several fog lamps, a full home stereo deck, and a personal computer with CRT monitor.
88	*** A Porsche also with two vastly oversized spoilers that total a height over the roof.
89	*** A car with a massive spoiler made out of plywood that alone is taller than the car itself, foil on the rims, and tape trim over the tire wells, around the bumper level all around the car, on the door handles, etc.
90	*** A Voxel Cavalier with a [[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard General Lee]] paint job and Dodge Charger written on the rear trunk.
91	** In one episode, the presenters attempt to get a Renault Avantime as fast as a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. In addition to more thoroughgoing work like adding new brakes and suspension, Richard Hammond bolts on a large spoiler (not just any large spoiler mind you, it's a spoiler from a Super Aguri ''Formula 1 car''), which merely slows the car down. After failing to get the Avantime up to the Evo's speed, the presenters conclude that most of the money and effort spent on tuning cars is wasted.
92	** Another challenge had a hill-climb between a pimped-out Peugeot 306 and a 1963 Austin Healey Sprite, a two-door British roadster that was built for racing. [[spoiler:In keeping with the trope, the Healey won it, but the race was pretty close since much of the Peugeot's pimping involved giving it a massively oversized engine. Unfortunately, the car was unable to apply more than about 1/3rd of the horsepower it generated to the road.]] Partially this trope then, but not entirely: the changes made to the car were also functional.
93	** In the "find the perfect car for a 17-year-old" challenge, Richard Hammond fitted his car with a body kit (for a different model). Needless to say, it didn't stay attached very long.
94	** When the presenters went to a drag strip in the USA with a Lexus LFA, the new Aston Martin Vanquish, and an SRT Viper and saw that they were up against young people in Mitsubishis and Subarus, they assumed that their victory was a foregone conclusion based on this trope. [[SubvertedTrope They discovered that their supercars were useless because their opponents had put as much effort into the engine bay as they had on the bodywork]].
95	* ''Series/WheelerDealers'' had two examples of that trope:
96	** The 2002 Range Rover from [=S10E03=] had a custom paint job and large rims, but also a broken injector and suspension compressor.
97	** The 1995 Mazda RX-7 from [=S11E03=] had visual modifications done to it, but the mechanics were kept stock and in need of repairs.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
101	* Creator/GabrielIglesias was heckled by some Hispanic {{gangbangers}} for driving a VW Beetle. "Ey, how you get in there, ese?!" He came back to that area after having riced it up. They still heckled him. "Check it out, ey! It's ''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious The Fat and the Furious]]''!"
102	* Mike Merryfield discusses the trend in his act. He focuses on the large spoilers (questioning how a rear spoiler is supposed to be effective on a front-wheel drive car), stereo systems with role calls (saying it gives thieves a checklist for stealing the components), and "fart cannon" mufflers (asking why ricers can get away with loud exhausts while he gets pulled over for a poorly maintained one).
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
106	* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' will sometimes have customized mechs that someone has given a distinctive paint job and added extra, pointless bits to like cosmetic spikes or adding parts to the mech's head to make it look like a monster. This is often done by pirates and doesn't actually help the mech at all. Such flashy modifications are also popular on the gladiator world of Solaris VII, where having a distinctive look can aid a pilot's popularity in the GladiatorGames.
107	* Subverted by Ork vehicles in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': A carefully chosen paint job can ''[[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve really]]'' make them faster.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Video Games]]
111	* The Japan-only racing game series ''VideoGame/BakusouDekotoraDensetsu'' is about racing riced-up trucks. Oddly enough, the bosses mostly drive stock trucks with better performance.
112	* The customisation tool in ''VideoGame/BeamNG'' allows you to lower certain types of suspension and swap parts between all variants of a car. Using this tool, you can "rice out" most cars by taking the ordinary base model of a vehicle, "stancing" it, and bolting on body kits, shiny new rims, and other aesthetic features taken from the race or sport variants of that car, while leaving out all of the performance-enhancing components.
113	* The arcade ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' game and its sequel are ''VideoGame/{{Cruisn}}'' [-[[RecycledInSpace WITH RICE!]]-]
114	* ''VideoGame/ForzaMotorsport'' has a paint editor that lets you rice up cars. Quite a few people spent more time putting ''Manga/LuckyStar'' [[{{Itasha}} characters]] on their cars and selling them in in-game auctions than they did actually racing them. Along with that, many of the less exotic cars have a number of body kit and spoiler options, though most are lighter than the stock body parts on the car. The paint and vinyl editors are completely optional, while body modifications can affect the car's performance.
115	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'':
116	** Chan Jaoming seems to embody this spirit in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoChinatownWars''. During one mission Huang has to disable other cars in a street race so that Chan's flashy-but-terrible car can win.
117	** Customizing was one of the new features made available in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' - though some cars are much better suited to it (hint: an actual sports car can take more modifications and already goes fast anyway). In keeping with the trope, most of these will make no difference whatsoever to the car's performance. The ''only'' exception is the NitroBoost. Unfortunately, there is no point except for two story missions - one of which was lowrider only - that allow you to race with your customized cars.
118	** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' didn't have car tuning, but [[JerkJock Brucie]] owns a tuning shop that performs modifications of this kind. One of his radio ads plays this for all it's worth, talking about how you should take your expensive sports car, designed and built by some of the world's best automotive engineers, and let some guy down by the docks have his way with it and give it all manner of useless "upgrades" that will only reduce its value.
119	** It makes a return in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', with some cars having more extravagant options than others; as in ''San Andreas'', the visual mods do nothing to the cars' performance. Both Online and Story Mode allow you to bring your own car to races depending on the race type, as for the Story mode, only Franklin has access to night-time street races. It also comes up once in Story Mode: after Michael [[spoiler:reconciles with his family]], he gets his old, conservative luxury sedan back, only to find that [[DumbassTeenageSon his son]] [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Jimmy]] had it extensively modified while it was in his care, complete with garish dollar-sign rims and a "La Cucaracha" horn. Michael is not amused. [[SubvertedTrope To Jimmy's credit, though, he also had some performance upgrades installed as well]].
120	*** ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' adds a handful of cars in its more recent updates that play the Ricer aesthetic completely straight. These include the Cheburek (a stand-in for the [=VAZ=]-2101), which has several tuning parts which are ''literally'' made of cardboard, and the Asbo (a stand-in for the Vauxhall Corsa C) which comes with a wide array of ludicrous cambered wheels, body kits, extended bumpers and oversized sound systems that would make it right at home in the ricing scene of the UK's more run-down housing estates.
121	* The ''VideoGame/MidnightClub'' series has a few of these in the first two games, but the trope really starts to become prevalent in ''DUB Edition'', where you'll find legions of AI racers with downright garish vehicles. Downplayed with the AI vehicles in ''Los Angeles''.
122	** And that's not even getting into the cars players can create in ''DUB Edition'' and ''Los Angeles''. Giant spinners and underglow on a Lamborghini Murcielago, anyone?
123	* ''VideoGame/MonBazou'': If you only focus on upgrading the aesthetics of your ''[[TheAllegedCar bazou]]'' without upgrading the engine or tires, you'll end up with this.
124	* Every ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' game from ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground Underground]]'' to ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedNitro Nitro]]''. Especially when you make the mistake of doing it without putting any actual performance upgrades into the car first, which can make the game {{unwinnable}}. Worst of all, they don't affect performance whatsoever - positive or negative, with the exception of ''[=ProStreet=]'', in which they add [[AwesomeButImpractical drag, downforce, and weight.]]
125	** The two ''Underground'' games enforced it with the "star rating": the more expensive your body work or your paint job was, the more stars you had. The first game used the star rating as a multiplier for your in-game score; the second game, meanwhile, enforced a minimum star rating in order to advance to the next stage of the storyline. And the star rating is what ''the game'' thinks it is cool, so you will have to install many parts that look very tacky.
126	** In ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedCarbon Carbon]]'', visual modification are made semi-optional; however, visual modifications will reduce the "heat" meter, as it makes your car harder to recognize by the police. It's not necessary to make extensive modifications, though, and a few mods like roof scoops and hood details barely make a difference. Usually a change in paint job works well enough.
127	** The [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeed2015 2015 game]] offers reputation bonuses based on visual modification, as well as success in other areas (such as speed, style, and outrunning the police).
128	** ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedPayback Payback]]'', ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedHeat Heat]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnbound Unbound]]'' made body modifications completely optional, as for the latter, unlike the ''Most Wanted'' example above, the cop "heat" meter (which starts at 0 and rising, only at nights) are always reset to zero after you enter the garage out of the police sights at night.
129	* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' through ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', absurdly extravagant modifications are available for pimping out the most mediocre rides. It's most prominent with the Sweeper from ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'', which can be decked out with post-apocalyptic spikes, blades, and boarded-up windows that look badass but don't stop it from being a ''[[JokeCharacter street sweeper]]'' with some of the worst stats in the game. Unfortunately, you cannot bring your customized cars to races, although in ''Saints Row'''s case, it's because there are no racing side activities, with the exception of Saints Row 2, where bringing a souped-up vehicle would grant a significant advantage.
130	* The Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment game ''VideoGame/TruckKyosokyoku'' has you racing a ''dekotora'' against time to get to your destination, while occasionally tossing a rival which you must knock to destroy VideoGame/ChaseHQ style. True to other Namco-Bandai racers, the game has a memorable EDM soundtrack.
131	* Because ''VideoGame/WanganMidnight Maximum Tune'' has separate upgrade systems for tuning and Dress-Up parts, it is possible to go grinding for Dress-Up parts in Ghost Battle mode without touching Story Mode once, resulting in a flashy-looking car that's still stock under the hood (as low as ''64 HP'' if you're using the [[JokeCharacter Subaru R2]]).
132	* Creator/{{Sega}}, not to be outdone by Namco-Bandai, also released ''[[VideoGame/EighteenWheelerAmericanProTrucker 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker]]'' at around the same time, which also features ''dekotoras'' despite being set in [[EagleLand America]].
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Web Animation]]
136	* In ''WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated'' Lewis decks out Rooster's semi in a dekotora-inspired fashion when he [[DemonicPossession possesses]] and steals the truck from the unfortunate trucker.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Web Original]]
140	* Obligatory ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' article: [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18993_5-wildly-popular-car-modifications-that-must-be-stopped.html "5 Wildly Popular Car Modifications That Must Be Stopped."]] The writer (who is Chinese-American) lampshades the racist connotations of the term "rice rocket" in the opening.
141	-->"If all the modifications are useless and possibly counterproductive, it's what my people call a "rice rocket." [[NWordPrivileges You probably have to call it something else, or else you're a racist.]]"
142	%% * Parodied at Fictitious Liveries; these [[http://www.fictitiousliveries.co.uk/photo.php?37999_bodykit.jpg photoshopped]] [[http://www.fictitiousliveries.co.uk/photo.php?37999_night.jpg images]] imagine similar changes being made to an [[CoolTrain English Electric Deltic locomotive]].
143	%% ** This is probably a TakeThat aimed at a certain rolling stock operating company who painted one of these historic locomotives in its in-house colours, which [[http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/raildiary/9016_htm_files/23.jpg didn't look a whole lot better.]] Railfans in the UK were not amused.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Western Animation]]
147	* [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/athfwiki/images/5/5a/Zucottimanicotti-aquateenhungerforceonadultswimvideo.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170421013731 Carl's car]] from ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', "[[Letters2Numbers 2]] [[XtremeKoolLetterz Wycked]]", is an old Dodge Stealth ES with a trashy paint job, though to Carl's credit, he does have a supercharger installed. However, it's rare we actually see it be driven; it often ends up being the collateral damage in whatever weirdness the ATHF are facing/causing/dealing with that episode.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Real Life]]
151	* Volvo at one point released cars that came pre-packaged with "rice burner" parts.
152	* Scion's entire brand identity was based customization. The car itself cost a set, flat price, and the only factory option was whether to get manual or automatic. Then you would customize whatever you wanted to attach to it and place the order online. Or just pick one up from a dealer if you don't want any.
153	* Gentoo Linux users were criticized for being "ricers" since Gentoo requires manually compiling all packages but the compile options were configurable. This led to many users trying to use experimental options that ran the risk of reducing stability.
154	* Likewise, regular PC users since the Windows XP era are putting stuff like Rainmeter and Wallpaper Engine to put on, respectively, customized UI and interactive wallpapers including looping and playing videos. Unsurprisingly this can strain performance, although in case of Rainmeter and depending on the scripting, possibly less so.
155	* On the outlier, some PC users are known to spend more for RGB-lit keyboard, mouse, and case rather than actual performance hardware.
156	* In Japan, [[JapaneseDelinquents the Bosozoku gangs take this trope and run with their]] {{Thememobile}}s. [[http://outsiderjapan.pbworks.com/f/1285049389/bosozoku_xB_front.jpg This is one of the tamer examples.]]
157	* And as if ricing cars wasn't enough, Japan also has Dekotora, ricing out ''semi-trucks''. [[http://pinktentacle.com/2006/11/dekotora-photo-galleries/ All the flash of the Las Vegas strip on 18 wheels.]]
158	* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_rod Rat Rod culture]] is an inversion of this trope. They take the framework of any 1920s-1960s era car scavenged from the various junkyards they can get to and install only a high-performance engine and other goodies into the hood (sometimes without it), revamping the upholstery, suspension system, and tires while leaving the rusty bodywork untouched to give off a pretty unflattering and homely take of TheAestheticsOfTechnology, as well as parodying the Hot Rod culture. Most of the time, the rusted frames they use have little to no restoration value, meaning they would otherwise have gone to scrap or simply rotted away. Sometimes, a skilled driver will even put effort into ''protecting'' what little is left of the chassis, before going back over it with artificial weathering to give it an appearance that [[WhatAPieceOfJunk belies its actual performance on the track.]] Suffice to say, however, many of these cars are by no means road-legal and are only allowed to run on the track.
159	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_coal "Rolling coal"]] is a variation, originally intended to make a pickup truck seem stronger, inspired by power- and smoke-increasing modifications in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractor_pulling tractor pulling]] vehicles. Nowadays, it is often justified as [[{{Jerkass}} a way of irritating hippies and anyone else who cares about air quality]], and especially (as "Prius repellent") for use against the Toyota Prius and other hybrid and electric vehicles. Such modifications almost invariably void the manufacturer's warranty and can cause engine damage. It is also highly illegal, and many jurisdictions will subject anyone who is caught with coal-rolling mods in their truck to massive fines.
160	* Opel made [[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Corsa_Moon a concept car]] based on their Corsa (link in German) that was apparently supposed to be a moon buggy but ended up looking like somebody replacing the wheels of a city car into monster truck wheels instead. Given that the Corsa, whether manufactured by Opel in Europe or under the Vauxhall badge in the United Kingdom, is already well-known for being a target of rice burner modifications, one can only argue that Opel managed to rice their own car!
161	* The 2020s have seen the birth of the "crossover" car; essentially a standard small hatchback but with a "ruggedised" exterior and a small amount of extra ride height, giving the cosmetic appearance of being an SUV or a rally car, but in reality being just a standard hatchback which is either only marginally more suited to going offroad or rallycross events than the standard model, or not at all. Examples include the [[https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/car-reviews/honda/jazz/jazz-crosstar/ Honda Jazz/Fit Crosstar]] (essentially just a slightly ruggedised Honda Jazz hybrid, albeit a top spec one) and the [[https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/ford/fiesta/10-ecoboost-140-active-x-5dr/first-drive Ford Fiesta Active]] (a slightly ruggedised Ford Fiesta).
162	[[/folder]]
163

Context Main / RiceBurner