Are we "Cozy RCers"?

[markbt73]

I'm sure you've all heard the term "cozy (or cosy) gamer," referring to folks who like to play video games where the object is to build and manage things, rather than shoot bad guys and blow stuff up. Fans of these games say they play them to relax, to keep their minds active, and to escape from the competitive nature of the modern world.

And it occurred to me: those are the exact same reasons I build and drive RC cars, especially Tamiya, vintage, and scale trail trucks. I have no interest in insane jumps or RTRs that can do 70 or keeping up with the latest and greatest tech so I can be faster than the next guy. When I'm out running laps around my track, I couldn't care less if my last lap was a tenth of a second slower than this one. And frankly, I made it only wide enough for one car on purpose; no competition is even possible.

I like slower, cooler-looking, easier-to-drive cars. I love the recent trend towards 380 motors. And I'm even coming around to the idea of driver figures, as long as they're fun and cartoony. None of this is a revelation to most folks here, I guess, but it just struck me how many parallels there are between Tamiya/vintage/scaler enthusiasts and cozy gamers. I guess if the Traxxas bros are playing Call Of Duty, we're playing Animal Crossing. And I, for one, am loving it.

[Big Jon]

Yes, I think we are. It’s all about the journey, not the destination. We tinker endlessly, improving and perfecting our imperfect models, trying to find some nostalgic ideal. Sure, we buy stuff, but our niche isn’t about track dominance, the latest monster basher, or bleeding edge innovation, it’s about experiencing the joys of the hobby. We can go to the track, finish dead last, and consider it a successful outing. We chase ideas that, after hours of experimenting, end up not working at all. We start more projects than we finish. This is my comfortable, cozy little space, so I’d consider this “Cozy RC”.

[Kol__]

I know what you mean bud. I think this suits me more and more as I get older. I tend to drive the buggies once in a while or when they're the 'new' one or the one I've finished working on or upgrading at the time and then it gets run. However, most of the hobby for me is tinkering, modifying, planning, shopping for parts etc. Nothing too hectic or particularly fast paced, I left those days behind me when I sold my last motorcycle!😂

One of the greatest things about this hobby is the variation and the depth. RC can be whatever you want it to be. It's certainly good for a bit of escapism and to let the creative juices flow if so inclined. It's technical, on a small scale, and components are highly tunable if so desired. And then on the other end if the spectrum, one can just as easily pick up a kit for £100ish, plus running gear, build it and run it around the park with the kids. It's the cosy hobby I always come back to, even if something else catches my eye and draws my attention for a while.

And on the gaming note, I tried it again last year and just found that any games that were very combative or really hectic and fast paced, I simply found them a stressful, heart thumping experience and quickly realised that's pretty much the opposite of what I look for from a recreational past time these days.

Jeez, must be getting old, 20 years ago all I cared about was the fast paced, heart pounding aspects of life!!❤️😴

[MadAtComputer]

Yup. RC is a cozy hobby for me. It is relaxing to build, maintain, and customize them. And a blast to drive em. Heck just about evertime I look at my RC shelf I grin, especially at my clod buster. Such crazy huge tires lol

I like the retro and re-re tamiya kits because the chassis are often odd/unique, look great and are as fun to drive as they are to build. I can't be bothered with huge lipo batteries and brushless motors. the newest/ fastest RC I have is a traxxas stampede. And that is still a pretty old design.

 

I've still got my Nintendo 3DS and animal crossing around somewhere.

[MadAnt]

As a collector of junk, I have never been competitive. Sure I have entered a couple of crawler comps, but it was the little scale adventure, the driving challenges and meeting people with the same interests that I enjoyed. Sure winning would be cool, but I didn't care, I just wanted to drive my tiny truck. Racing sparks my interest sometimes, but the cost of even doing ok is the reason why I don't race. I'd rather be building something, which is when I'm in the zone. I do a lot of thinking and sometimes while in my zone,  I have visions of how I can put some junk together to make something cool. It can be strange sometimes, because there are times I forgot that I possessed the skills to do certain things. It's like some of my creative abilities are like second nature when my mind is in that zone mindset. It's very rewarding for me, especially after having success with the finished product.

[El Gecko]

Same here, I definitely think I've become more of a "cozy" type of RCer, especially since the pandemic. And also more of a cozy gamer. I usually play racing games almost exclusively, although much more rarely lately. But when I do find time to fire them up, I find myself just driving around drifting and doing whatever I want on open-world maps rather than doing races or objectives or whatever the game calls for. My favorite is still the mod I made for the old version of GTA San Andreas with a bunch of racetracks massaged into a single map, and cars specifically tuned to have a good time with. No competitors or other racers, no traffic, no time limits, no pressure. Just pure driving bliss.

[2qwik]

Looking back on some of my posts from 2011 on, I have to agree. Back then I built a big track, drove endlessly and was always out there "doing"...Heaps of energetic stuff. These days I'm tinkering so much more, may have something to do with age, as well as being an older parent who would rather be with the kids until bedtime also. I live in the bush and haven't even taken my trusty XR 600 out for 6 months when I used to ride every day. Slowing down a bit I guess, getting cosy....

[Blista]

Can't say I've heard that term before but I get the gist of it.  I haven't graduated from nimh batteries to lipo so that's a good indicator of my more sedate pace.  I've bought games I wanted then never got around to playing them which is eerily reminiscent of some Tamiya purchases.

Now that I think about the comparisons, It took less time for Bethesda to give me an Oblivion re-release than Tamiya to give me a monster racer re-release.  And that was almost 20 years.  

[JimBear]

I get the idea, and I agree. Probably getting old and all that, but the 380 Schrott Racer has changed things up a bit. Trying to keep it as cheap as possible, reusing parts, leftover cans of paint and electronics just taking up space. Just to see where it gets me. Tooting around, for fun.

 

 

[Gebbly]

I'm definitely all about the "cosy" I discovered "cosy" computer games a couple of years back and they are so much more enjoyable than multi player games that invariably led me to swearing at the screen. One that I often return to is Tank Mechanic Simulator". Find and dig out second world war tanks from fields, take them back to the workshop, take them apart, repair and repaint them and also take on commisions to repair other peoples tanks.  Then you also have a museum you can arrange and put some of the tanks you have renovated. I think there is also a plane mechanic simulator which I havent tried yet.

RC is definitely another "cosy" hobby for me. I'm not interested in top speeds or lap times. Sometimes I watch people driving their RC's on youtube but the most enjoyable videos for me are not the highest jumps or fastest cars but things like racing Wild Willys or Lunchboxes or Mathias driving his little tractor around farmland or watching a club get together and laugh as they pootle around a course together. A great case in point was the fascinating recent thread by @Mad AxUK Scaler Nationals - May 2025 Event Review . A great read seeing lots of people coming together and chilling out.

For me its more about coming up with ideas and seeing how I could just build something that works. Once I start building I get into my own little world and its kind of meditative with nothing else mattering.

In the same way I treat Tamiyaclub as my "cosy" website. Its where I come to chill out and unwind. Share ideas, learn from the experts and get inspired by the great builds on here.

[ThunderDragonCy]

Cosy fo lyf

[Pylon80]

26 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Cosy fo lyf

Fo' shizzle

[Kowalski86]

Whenever I play videogames, it's almost always an older simple title like Re-Volt, Twisted Metal, or sometimes a "braniac" game like Railroad Tycoon 2 (I seriously reccomend giving the soundtrack a listen!). I look at modern games as giant, inefficient, money/time sinks that are designed to nickel and dime you. And of course, I find ESports silly (though I haven't seen any grown men throw tantrums at teenagers yet).

This more than likely carries over to my preferences in RCs.

23 hours ago, markbt73 said:

I have no interest in insane jumps or RTRs that can do 70 or keeping up with the latest and greatest tech so I can be faster than the next guy.

During my last dirt-park run I met up with a guy who planned on running a massive Arrma Kraton 16s 60mph anti-ankle thing, we had a friendly chat, but deep down I kept asking myself "Where would I run this thing?", according to the owner it was too big for our outdoor 1/8 track,  and in my opinion easily too big and fast for the gravel parking lot that I run my off-roaders. I really don't see the appeal in giant RCs unless if they have a more practical use.

[markbt73]

"Anti-ankle," love it

[urban warrior]

35 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

Whenever I play videogames, it's almost always an older simple title like Re-Volt ...

Oh, I remember this game quite well. I played it for a long time. At the beginning the "engine" was always better than me. Then I discovered that, if you switch the course to reverse and mirrored, you got a real good chance against the "engine". Finally I was so trained it that game, that I easily beat a good friend who was always way ahead of me in other games. And he was driving with a steering wheel and pedals, while I only used the keyboard. I always had the idea to "replicate" one or the other of the cars in Re-Volt as a real RC.

44 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

I really don't see the appeal in giant RCs unless if they have a more practical use.

When I lived in "Oberhöchstadt" for 13 years, in the first two winters we had loads of snow (2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011). I thought about building a remotely operated snow blower large enough to clear our quite large sidewalk. But then the climate change kicked in and the winters only got grey and wet.

"Cozy" games? Will "Sim City" and "Age of Empires" count? Apart from that my "career" in gaming has been mostly FPS games. Why? To let off some steam after work. And because you don't needed to spend too much time in the game.

[Kol__]

2 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

Fo' shizzle

ma nizzle

[njmlondon]

14 hours ago, Gebbly said:

One that I often return to is Tank Mechanic Simulator". Find and dig out second world war tanks from fields, take them back to the workshop, take them apart, repair and repaint them and also take on commisions to repair other peoples tanks.  Then you also have a museum you can arrange and put some of the tanks you have renovated. I think there is also a plane mechanic simulator which I havent tried yet.

That sounds fantastic! 

[Kowalski86]

3 hours ago, urban warrior said:

I always had the idea to "replicate" one or the other of the cars in Re-Volt as a real RC.

Before I got into RC I had been playing a lot of Re-Volt, then I decided to dig our old Rustler out of the garage and restore it and do "the real thing". Even from the start I never understood "bashing" or super fast stuff.

You could probably easily replicate one of the buggies or one of the many touring cars. Just don't try to mimic their shock setups...

4 hours ago, markbt73 said:

"Anti-ankle," love it

I'm just waiting for the day when ground RCs end up regulated like drones. There's already plenty of no-RC parks out there.

[urban warrior]

2 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

Just don't try to mimic their shock setups...

😂🤪😄 So true!

[ThunderDragonCy]

8 hours ago, Kol__ said:

ma nizzle

Believe

[Gebbly]

9 hours ago, njmlondon said:

That sounds fantastic! 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/407130/Tank_Mechanic_Simulator/

£15.49 at the moment. gives me a mechanical fix when I dont want to get out all the real tools.

[Eric Bloodsmith]

I really like practicing my driving and improving my lap times, but the scale element of this hobby is still the most important part for me. Driving scale models in scale conditions is what I enjoy most!

[lee82gx2]

In another life (well the storage rack just beside my Tamiya) is a bunch of Arrma 1/8 and 1/10. 3s,6s, and maybe 4s if I get my way.
The abuse they take is just next level compared to my Tamiya. Backflip, 15ft jumps, crash whatever. Its not that they are indestructible, they are built for destruction.

But lately I've been getting tired of Bash wrench repeat because of the downtime, parts ordering from across the globe, and loctite curing (24 freaking hours!).

I was even almost contemplating life as a crawler, but I think I've not yet reached that stage now.

So yeah, my babied Tamiyas get a run about at silly speeds but not mayhem, just enough to get us excited but not enough to worry about combing through the whole internet for that broken driveshaft part that will cost more to ship than the part price.

SOOOO cozy yeah!

[Killajb]

I'm a contradiction of sorts..  for my gaming preference, GTA V online is my go-to.  But I only play invite-only session and just spend my time being a worker bee 🐝, tending to my assorted businesses and making money.  I usually try to keep 30 - 40 million in the bank and splurge the rest on cars every Friday.  When I run out of space to put a car, I buy a new office with car storage and keep stashing them in there.  I would normally consider that "cozy" gaming, but occasionally I might pummel a NPC because.. reasons.  Anywho, my RC life is pretty much spot on with that (minus the bank account figures). I just collect nice cars and try to baby them rather than bash and crash them. 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Killajb said:

I'm a contradiction of sorts..  for my gaming preference, GTA V online is my go-to.  But I only play invite-only session and just spend my time being a worker bee 🐝, tending to my assorted businesses and making money.  I usually try to keep 30 - 40 million in the bank and splurge the rest on cars every Friday.  When I run out of space to put a car, I buy a new office with car storage and keep stashing them in there.  I would normally consider that "cozy" gaming, but occasionally I might pummel a NPC because.. reasons.  Anywho, my RC life is pretty much spot on with that (minus the bank account figures). I just collect nice cars and try to baby them rather than bash and crash them. 

@KillajbI play a lot of GTA online, you are my kind of player. I just do business missions and and the odd heist with friends. I did play in public sessions but they're full of Broccoli headed little punks and are also very toxic. There's always some tryhard that really wants to better his/her kill ratio and they attack you when you're delivering product.  The game isn't about shooting people constantly, If I want to do that I will play DOOM or Call of Duty. I do play with a buddy and we get in the Menacer or Nightshark then systematically hunt down those gamers that spoil it for others, the high rankers that pick on the NOOB's really annoy me. I do spend most of my GTA dollars on cars. I have around $31,000, 000 in the game, after a huge spending spree to buy vehicles and all the businesses that are possible. 

As for RCing, I run everything I own, they all get thrashed as well. If they break I fix 'em. I hate the term shelf queen.