We would be the envy of every railway otaku in Japan: JR East had invited us to try out the company's driving simulator outside Tokyo, where real JR drivers hone their skills at the controls of a virtual train.
Excited and feeling quietly confident we were about to reveal our hidden talent to hardened pros at the training center, we planned a little competition to see who could pull our virtual trains into virtual stations with the fewest screw-ups. Little did we know that overshooting the platform would be the least of our troubles . . .
As the instructors motioned me to the controls, I had no idea how agonizing train-driving could be -- I hadn't even driven a car for five years.