I dispute the assertion that he knew how to drive them.

I dispute the assertion that his friend and business partner, Roger Rodas, knew how to drive them- he was at the wheel of the Porsche that killed them both. Walker, on the other hand, raced in the Redline Time Attack series, and was well known as a competent driver in the racing world.

(Insert Jason Priestley/Frankie Muniz/Patrick Dempsey/Rowan Atkinson jokes here)

Dude was a 21st Century Steve McQueen/Paul Newman- a legit car enthusiast and student of driving who also acted- often badly, occasionally very well.

Like everyone else on the planet I knew that Walker wasn't driving.

80-93mph ("The investigation concluded") on a short set of streets (do a Google maps for Hercules Street Valencia, Santa Clarita, California) full of people (Saturday 3:30pm in a neighborhood full of shops, gyms, studios, etc).

If my friend and business partner was driving like a psychopathic asshole on public streets I would make him slow down or make him let me and anyone else out of the vehicle. Because apparently I understand something about cars that Paul Walker never did.

But at least we can agree that Paul Walker "was a 21st Century Steve McQueen/Paul Newman- a legit car enthusiast and student of driving..." was a popcorn actor who taught an entire generation of young morons that gasoline vehicles are toys.

Popcorn actor? Of course.

But you seem to combine one's acting ability with one's love of cars and car culture. They are completely separate. One can be a horrible actor and be a legit car enthusiast and student of driving. (See Dempsey, Patrick). One is a job, the other a passion. Nick Offerman is an actor whose passion is carpentry.

Walker loved cars. Walker made a movie about cars. So did McQueen (LeMans, Bullitt, (tangentially) and was supposed to be the lead for Grand Prix, but it went to James Garner, another actor with a passion for cars.) Newman was so involved in racing they made a movie ABOUT Paul Newman's racing career.

The guy made a car movie and idiots bought into it- I was in the street racing culture BEFORE the Fast/Furious thing came out- it ruined the culture, because people went from doing it on back county roads where no one was to on highways and in cities. It was stupid. But Walker was an actor who had NOTHING to do with development; blame Neil Moritz- it was his idea to make the damn thing.

BTW: Ever driven a Carrera GT? Ever been in one when someone hits the gas?

I have.

It takes around 3 seconds to hit 60mph, and you spend most of that time pressed into your seat. You are at 90+ before you get a real coherent thought in beyond "Holy fucking shit this bitch has some pickup". Try telling/convincing someone to slow down and stop the car in 3 seconds while being pushed by acceleration. Assuming he was surprised by the driving (which may or may not be true) that is quite the task for anyone. Braking distance is also more than 100 feet at full pressure, which means it is at least a few seconds AFTER getting said driver to slow down that the car removes itself from danger.

The GT is also one of the most sensitive street-legal vehicles ever created- even small adjustments to the steering cause large movement at the wheels. The steering wheel is not driver-friendly- it does not respond like your Corolla. Or a Mercedes AMG. Or a Corvette ZR1. In other words, its a pure race car- a fucking death trap for untrained people (I drove one at an open track (i.e. no walls, just sand and soft barriers) event, in a helmet and suit with a 5-point on), and a difficult car for seasoned racers. Rodas was a seasoned driver who should have known better, but if you are going to let someone drive you somewhere, a trusted friend who is also a seasoned racecar driver is probably your best choice if that car happens to be a Porsche Carrera GT, because that car is NOT a safe vehicle, which is probably why Porsche settled with Walker's daughter under confidential terms- letting that go to court and into the public eye would probably not have been a good thing for the automaker, since it likely would have shown that the GT lacked most of the standard safety features you find on cars of that type and vintage (it does) and that the tires and other parts on the vehicle are prone to degradation of ability/safety when put on display/into storage (they do) like collectors are apt to do with big-ticket vehicles.

Oh, and there was also the 10.1 million dollar wrongful death settlement Walker's daughter reached with Rodas' estate, in which the estate admitted partial responsibility for his death.

The stupid part about me writing this? I'm not even a Paul Walker fan- I think he was a shit actor, the movie sucked (My favorite one has always been Tokyo Drift, aka the one without him or Diesel in it (Diesel is another Popcorn actor who hasn't made a quality flick since "Pitch Black"), and the changes in insurance rates (Canada) for modified vehicles- and the subsequent police crackdown on any car not bone stock- after that movie came out drove me out of something I loved doing- modding cars- and ruined the ability to wear my "West Coast Customs" and "Foose" shirts without looking like a douche.

But you can't blame a guy for getting into a car he owned, that was driven by a close friend and business partner who was also a trained racecar driver, and ending up dead. You also can't blame him for being cast in a movie about cars, unless of course you're saying his performance as a car guy in said Neil Moritz production was so good that it enthralled an entire generation of people under 30 into putting fart pipes, poorly mounted and aerodynamically inefficient spoilers, stupid lights and ugly body kits onto small Japanese automobiles, and racing light-to-light through heavy traffic and down highways, in which case he wouldn't be a popcorn actor, would he?

Well argued, lots of good info, glad to hear you weren't a dangerous asshole in your racing days and thanks for a decent bit of conversation. And hey, as far as fart pipes, cosmetic spoilers and other faux upgrades go, I think we hate the same people.

I kinda feel like we're discussing inferences that I don't think I implied.

I agree that the childish irresponsibility that Walker displayed with cars and his penchant for generic action-bro movie roles were two distinct and separate flaws in his character.

Regarding the actor vs. producer blame thing: the difference between singlehandedly teaching a message (as you seem to have inferred) and repeatedly taking a lead role in a franchise that taught that message is IMO largely semantic. I did specify a generation of morons, which I thought would clarify the scope of my comment. Popcorn actors frequently (perhaps primarily?) resonate with morons. I was commenting on the effect, not Walker's intent.

Regarding everything you wrote about the Carerra GT: these are all excellent reasons that a seasoned race car driver or a legit car enthusiast and student of driving should know better than to drive that car at high speed on inhabited public roadways, if they drove it on inhabited public roadways at all.

As for Walker having no time to object to Rodas' apalling irresponsibility in the moments before the crash, I'll share some automotive experience of my own which I think is relevant.

My kids were never permitted to accept a ride in my (now deceased) brother-in-law's Corvette. He offered these rides on a few occasions "to show what this car can do". I didn't want them injured or killed, nor did I want them to witness someone else being killed should something happen to surprise the driver while he was "opening her up". I was "a total buzzkill" on all of these occasions because I know that public roadways (and the people on them) generate surprises frequently. That's the very first fact everyone should know about roads.

The first thing everyone should know about cars is that a car is a steel projectile which can kill someone before anyone knows what's happening. The faster you drive any car the truer this fact becomes. A car is not a toy in exactly the same way that a gun is not a toy, and for exactly the same reasons. Confidence in one's driving skills (imagined or real) has no effect on this fact whatsoever.

These two facts are the mandatory prefix for everything else there is to know about how to drive a car, at least on publlic roads. Getting this question wrong is a fail even if you ace the remaning questions. Through their poor choices on that day Walker and Rodas have become formerly-living examples of this principle.

Walker knew the GT was a challenging car, he knew Rodas, he knew where they were going, and he knew they were going in a hurry. And he got in the GT anyway.

So I stand by my original statement. In the most important sense, and in the same way that any lifelong gun enthusiast who accidentally died cleaning a loaded firearm could be said to not know how to handle a gun, Paul Walker did not know how to drive a car.

Sorry you're not doing what you love anymore. It sucks that you (like the rest of us) can't have nice things because morons.

R.I.P. in peace Paul Walker. You're Tokyo Drifting in Valhalla now.

Mod this is you cry everyday