Last night I found my way to the brand new Nissan Island. The place was buzzing with opening night excitement.

The first thing that caught my eye was a Fifi La Feme avatar that left scripted pawprints when she walked - how cool is that !

Back to Nissan. Created to promote the Nissan Sentra where potential drivers spend their time, Nissan Island features a virtual racetrack, remote controlled cars, and video screens where you can watch Nissan advertisements.



When I arrived, there were a few dozen visitors standing around. I recognized a few avatars from the Ben Folds event. I also couldn't help but notice the GIANT vending machine churning out Nissan Sentras in a variety of colors.



When I first arrived, the vending machine ticker was at 60. I stood there for a while assuming someone would mention how the machine worked. I even walked over to another group to see if they were talking about how it worked. While I was wandering, I wild driver plowed into me. A few people in the crowd shouted "Lookout Kitty" and "Kitty Roadkill!"

DUH - there was a sign right next to it that explained what to do.



So I IM'd Toast Alicious and he gave me a PIN number for the vending machine. Here is a picture of his avatar :)



I rezed the car and hopped inside. Once of my colleagues hopped in the passenger seat and snapped a few pictures on the completely out of control ride.







Here's the first hint. You can use the arrow keys to move the vehicle or the W S A D keys on the keyboard, IF you hit escape to get out of chat mode. Otherwise you just type wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww in chat and people think that you are a moron. You use page up and page down to shift gears. My colleague chatted these helpful hints to me as if I should know them (but hey, I'm the one who figured out how to get a PIN number and how to use the vending machine).

But I admit it, I'm a sucky virtual Nissan Sentra driver. At one point I wound up upside down and then trapped between the two tracks.





It was at this point that I realized that our feet were sticking out of the bottom of the car a la Fred Flinstone.



Eventually I got turned around and off the Loop-d-loop.



Then, somehow I wound up on the other side of the island on a track. Doesn't this look like a Nissan ad? I call it Shift_furry.


(except I'm not a furry, but it's still funny)