They say that boys will be boys and although that can be a very subjective generalization, the evolution of boy's toys into a hobby for grown men can attest to the fact that some boys never grow up-at least in terms of their toy cars.
RC (radio controlled) cars is the general term for any car model that uses a radio control system for remote management. However, there are two types of RC cars: the toy grade, which was designed for young boys; and the hobby grade which is the choice of adolescent boys and men of all ages.
The only similarity between the toy and hobby grade RC cars is that they are both models of land vehicles that are used via remote radio control system. The main difference in the two types of models however is that the toy grade one is just a bunch molded plastic that resembles the look of a miniature car, while the hobby grade types are actual miniature models of vehicles that come with individual parts assembled much like a real, full sized car. In fact, hobby grade RC cars are treated exactly like real cars because it requires regular maintenance and run on actual miniature car engines.
Some hobby grade RC cars run on electrically propelled machines while the rest run on fuel powered engines. The complexity of hobby grade RC cars is probably the main attraction for men of all ages. That and the fact that hobby grade RC cars are made for racing that allow men to compete with each other using their personalized racing cars. An RC cars hobbyist will have to decide whether he wants a fuel powered or electric powered vehicle. On both types of engines, there will be trade offs.
For instance, electric powered RC cars are generally lighter than their fuel powered counterparts. However, fuel powered RC cars are faster than their electric counterparts. These trade offs are analyzed by the hobbyist in making his decision on which type of RC car to own. All these hobby grade RC cars come with complex parts that can be expanded and changed so that a hobbyist can own a fuel powered car which he can change for an electric engine if he wants.
Because the RC cars are used for racing, they are fitted with extra powerful radio controlled systems that allow remote control from many distances. Not only that, since there are different terrain in which an RC car race can be held, there are also off-road models suited for all terrain racing because of their wheels and suspension.
Whether your RC car is electric or fuel powered, you can be assured that your car will need a lot of maintenance from repair and upgrading of car parts to cleaning and tuning to make sure that your race machine can hold its own out on the race track among other RC cars.
So you see, these RC cars are true toys for the bog boys. They are something that can be appreciated by grown ups in terms of complexity and ability for real races and it allows men to feel like boys again even for just a while.