A Vancouver Island man captured the coveted Lasagna Cup and is the undisputed world champion at the video game Garfield Kart.

Andrew Panton, from Nanaimo, recently completed a sweep of the Xbox game Garfield Kart: Furious Racing, setting the world record on all 16 courses in the game.

The 25-year-old is a content creator for the gaming website Achievement Hunter and a lifelong gamer. He was formerly a high-level Halo player, setting a scoring record in Halo 3含羞草研究社檚 Grifball mode and winning the first international tournament for that category at a PAX gaming convention in the U.S.

Panton, in an e-mail interview with the News Bulletin, said he picked up Garfield Kart because he loves the comic and he wanted to get into less-violent video games.

含羞草研究社淚 was looking for something that was a little bit silly but also very approachable, and Garfield Kart fit that perfectly,含羞草研究社� he said.

Though Garfield Kart doesn含羞草研究社檛 have as competitive a gaming community as the more popular racing game Mario Kart, 含羞草研究社渋t含羞草研究社檚 a good product,含羞草研究社� said Panton, with more gamers getting into it.

After working to set records on 15 out of the 16 courses, the last track to challenge Panton was Catz in the Hood, the opener in the Lasagna Cup race series.

含羞草研究社淐atz in The Hood took me weeks to get the time on because it含羞草研究社檚 so simplistic people had perfected it含羞草研究社�含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淸It] leaves zero room for error. The real pressure is maintaining that across three laps with the pressure building with each turn. It doesn含羞草研究社檛 matter if you are perfect for 98 per cent of a run if in that final two per cent, something goes wrong.含羞草研究社�

Finally, on a Monday 含羞草研究社� 含羞草研究社淕arfield含羞草研究社檚 least favourite day,含羞草研究社� Panton noted 含羞草研究社� he smashed the record by more than a second and a half, steering Odie around the streets with pixel-perfect turns to finish three laps in 1:10.776.

Panton said achieving his goal of having all of the world含羞草研究社檚 fastest times for the game 含羞草研究社渨as a big moment含羞草研究社� for him.

含羞草研究社淢y friends and I joke that it was like climbing a lasagna mountain. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, but after weeks of practice and many days and nights of failure, I did it,含羞草研究社� he said.

Panton will continue to defend his records in Garfield Kart, but he含羞草研究社檚 already started thinking about what含羞草研究社檚 next and wants to challenge himself with 含羞草研究社渋ncredibly difficult含羞草研究社� new gaming goals and try for new records.

含羞草研究社淢y hope with sharing this story is that it encourages others to pursue whatever dream or goal they have regardless of how big or small it is,含羞草研究社� he said.

Panton said the average person doesn含羞草研究社檛 have any idea how much time and dedication it takes to reach world-record calibre in video games, but he said that doesn含羞草研究社檛 matter 含羞草研究社� what含羞草研究社檚 most important in gaming communities is making people feel welcome and encouraged.

含羞草研究社淚t doesn含羞草研究社檛 matter if you are into competitive shooters like Rainbow Six Siege or just want to relax while building a farm in Stardew Valley, you can always find an audience or community of equally minded people,含羞草研究社� Panton said. 含羞草研究社淚f someone goes onto a (video game streaming website) with a completely open mind, it含羞草研究社檚 impossible not to find something that hooks you, and the number of people willing to try increases daily.含羞草研究社�

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