Street Racer

Street Racer, originally titled Tristan Starr: Street Racer, is a street racing action drama novel conceived by Ryan Nurse and Animatron Studios. The novel derives from a short epistolary story Nurse wrote for his GCSE exams, and is heavily inspired by the Need for Speed series of street racing games, especially Underground 2 and Most Wanted, as well as the movie Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. Originally conceived in 2009, it has languished in development hell for several years.

The novel is set in the fictional city of Jade City, Nevada, and follows amateur racer Tristan Starr as he enters the city's seedy underground racing scene in order to raise enough money to fund a professional career, while also honing his driving skills. However, after realizing how dangerous the world of street racing truly is, he begins to question what he is doing.

Characters

 * Tristan Starr: The protagonist of the series. A calm, level-headed professional, his racing skills are already highly developed. He drives a distinctive highly-modified blue-and-white Nissan Skyline GT-R.
 * Jason Diaz: Tristan's arch-rival, an aggressive racer who used to own the streets of Jade City. He is not above causing his opponents to crash in order to win, sometimes with lethal results. He drives a modified orange-and-black Nissan 370Z.
 * Alyssa Dalton: An old friend of Tristan's. A hard drinker with a short temper, she sometimes has to sacrifice her own races to help Tristan win, much to her chagrin. She drives a modified black-and-yellow Hyundai Genesis Coupe.
 * Matt Burke: A skilled graffiti artist who gives paint jobs to many of the street racers' cars. A streetwise teen with a sharp wit, Matt occasionally races himself, driving a modified Lexus SC430 with a complex livery.
 * Jay Collins: Matt's protege, also a skilled graffiti artist. His parents were murdered when he was young, and he maintains a bitter, almost nihilistic world view. Unlike Matt, Jay does not participate in the street races.
 * Tara St. Clair: Jason's lover, a flirty, outgoing Irish-American who also secretly harbors a crush on Tristan. She sometimes races in order to keep an eye on Jason; she drives a modified green-and-white Mazda Miata MX-5.
 * "Bouncer": Jason's second-in-command. Quiet, tough and obedient, he is not above crashing into other drivers to help Jason win. He drives a modified, specially-reinforced Ford Mustang GT with a yellow paint job.
 * Lien Wei: A Chinese-American street racer and "pit babe" who is in a casual relationship with Tristan. She sometimes races, driving a white-and-black Audi TT.
 * "Ghost": A mysterious, almost legendary racer who drives a heavily-modified Lamborghini Gallardo with a black-and-orange paint job. He roams America in search of challengers, and is said to have never lost a race.

Original short
The story began life as Tristan Starr: Street Racer, a short story written by Nurse in 2008/9 for his English exams. Presented as a short series of diary entries, this story focused almost entirely on the rivalry between Starr and Diaz and lacked many of the characters and plot points that would later be introduced. This version ended with Starr suffering a near-fatal crash during a final showdown with Diaz, after the latter sabotaged his car; the crash resulted in the amputation of Starr's legs and the resultant end of his racing career.

Nurse was forced to improvise much of Starr's characterization on the spot, most notably his ice-cool demeanor, which was deliberately crafted in order to evoke icons such as James Dean, and to contrast with Diaz' hot-headed aggressiveness. Ultimately, Tristan Starr: Street Racer was not submitted for Nurse's exams - Francorchamps was submitted instead - but Nurse had already decided that it was worthy of expanding into a full-length novel.

Full novel
In 2009/10, Nurse began writing a draft version of the novel's opening chapters, introducing the characters of Alyssa, Matt and Jay. These early chapters focused on Tristan's entry into the street-racing scene, but Nurse ultimately felt they were too slow-paced and boring and scrapped them. The current version of the novel thus begins in medias res, with Tristan already an established street racer. It also contains more mature themes than both the original draft and the short story, with more explicit sexual themes and violence; indeed, Street Racer is one of Nurse's few projects to outright refer to sexual intercourse.

The novel's protracted planning time has meant that several elements have had to be re-written to keep it up-to-date. For example, Jay's parents were originally killed during 9/11, and Jason Diaz originally drove a 350Z rather than the newer 370Z. Several key concepts, such as the existence of Ghost and Tristan's motivation for becoming a street racer, were also added during development. The major turning point of the series - the death of an unspecified associate of Tristan's in a street-racing crash - was inspired by a scene in Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift in which a driver suffers a fatal and explosive collision.

Appearances in other media
Tristan is set to appear as an unlockable playable character in the crossover fighting game When Worlds Collide, as well as a stage set in Jade City.

Trivia

 * The original short story is the only epistolary work of fiction Nurse has so far produced.