Leo felt the steering go light, the feedback vanishing. But he didn't panic. He was already steering for the exit before the grip even came back, predicting the moment of recovery.
The tires bit and the car snapped back into line.
130R: Valid. He took it flat-out, the wind trying to tear the car off the track, his hands locked in a battle with the wheel.
He crossed the line.
[LAP VALIDATED.]
[Lap time: 1 minute 49.7 seconds.]
[Perfect Laps completed: 35 / 1,000]
[Consecutive clean laps: 5.]
Five more. He just needed five more clean laps to level up Auditory Mapping.
---
The rain in Suzuka was not a weather event; it was a wall of data.
Leo Kaito sat in the matte-black pod, his physical body resting in his room at the Petrova manor, but his consciousness was currently wired into a screaming, wet void. He had reached lap thirty-six of Phase 2, and the simulation had decided that the training wheels were off.
