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Realistic Driving Simulator Games?
modoquasi writes "I have a son approaching the age when it is legal to hurtle through the air at insurance-raising speeds. I would like to educate him to hurtle safely and legally as soon as possible, and not use my car to do it. I thought I would find a number of driving simulator/educators for teens at home. but all I found are the likes of GTA Vice City and Crazy Taxi. Though Big Mutha Truckers might educate him on correct parking procedures in tight spots, I don't think it covers four-way-stops and passing on a double yellow line. Do the readers of Slashdot have any clues where to find this type of software?"
If you don't have your head in the ground, use this. It may be a racing game but the physics are extremely well thought out.
Kinda hard to miss honestly
Get paid to code OSS
I learned in part with Sierra Driver's Education '99 software, which is no longer sold. It worked well, and included audio books of tutorials, multiple-choice tests, and a driving simulator of "Virtual City." I quickly lost seriousness and learned the finer points of running red lights and dodging traffic while going the wrong way on the freeway.
Although you would think that a driving simulator should help a kid to drive, I'm skeptical.
... and they don't come anywhere close to the forces you regularly experience in a car.
;)
I think driving simulators lack a couple of things that are very important to teaching the kid:
- 360 degree vision
- true depth for depth perception and focus at a distance
- actual control sizes and distances (to pedals)
- true control feedback (think steering feedback, brake and especially clutch pedal feedback)
- g-forces and motion
etc...
Having worked on flight simulators and knowing what goes into a real training simulator, I would expect you would end up with negative training (training for something that will actually be different in real life that you will have to un-learn)
Real flight simulators have merit, but they have actual aircraft controls and instruments, have hydraulic motion bases, collimated visuals, meet exact standards for control and visual feedback (both force and timing), etc...
My advice: rent or borrow an actual car. Teach him on backstreets or in empty parking lots. Maybe use a car with a parking brake lever between the front two seats... and keep your hand on it!
Where I live (Denmark), all of that is mandatory (well, apart from driving an AWD vehicle). We spent a whole day on a closed track playing around in wet and dry conditions with and without ABS.
In addition to being educational, it was great fun. And I feel that I really learned something about how drive in slippery conditions and what to do when you lose control.
Eat the rich.