Slashdot Mirror
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?"
brought forth This beauty. Now to dig deeper and find an OSS game or two...
No one ever says, 'I can't read that ASCII E-mail you sent me.'
how bout you just spend some time with the kid & go teach him yourself? there will never be an electronic substitute for what a kid learns directly from his parents.
Not everything can be simulated. Not everything that can be simulated should be simulated.
I can't say that I don't give a fuck. I've just run out of fuck to give.
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.
Investigate advanced driving courses, road safety. Try and find an advanced driver to take him out as a passenger, road commentry, go/no go decisions etc.
Track day, take him to a race track and pay for him to have a days instruction. Also pay for him to be driven round at speed.
Buy one book for him. Roadcraft: the police drivers handbook. Quite simply the best manual for driving. It's a UK publication, has been going for 80 years with revisions.
Make him buy the car and pay for the insurance. If you are going to pay for this make sure it goes through his bank account, so he has the money and has to write the cheques.
Originally, if I remember the story correctly, this game was used for Law Enforcement/Student Drivers due to it's very realistic physics and force feedback. Later adapted into a game by Atari since there wasn't a huge market for it.
One of my favorites and was a good way to understand how to drive a clutch 'n stick.
There was some bus driving game from the Dreamcast in Japan, never played it myself. But who knows, might be a close approximation.
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!
The other cars pop out of nowhere and swerve randomly without signaling. That's highly unrealis...oh, wait.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
Sorry, but I actually drive a real car, and Gran Tourismo is nothing but a caricature of physics. Particularly where rear-wheel drive cars are concerned.
And, yes, I've done power drifts in a real car (I was young and foolish then).
Moreover, the LAST thing you want to teach a sixteen year old is how to drive fast. Because what a beginning driver really lacks is the judgement to know WHEN they can drive fast safely. Far better to teach them safe driving, and do the race car course next year or the year after.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
You're seeking the wrong solution. Using a computer isn't going to teach your son a damn thing about driving.
:)
Why don't you take him out to an empty parking lot show him the basic controls? Have him drown around a bit w/o even touching th gas pedal (presumably you have an auto trans and the car gets rolling as soon as your foot is off the brake). Teach him how to gently use the break to keep the car from going too fast w/o stopping it all together. Once he learns how to work the brake gently, teach him how to do the same with the gas.
Once he's good at making circles in the empty parking lot in a controlled fashion, do not take him to the street - even though he's ready. Get some orange cones or something, set them up in a box and have him park in the box. Teach him to park backwards and forwards, and force him to use the mirrors to do so. Teaching him to use the mirrors before he ever gets onto the street is the best thing you can do. Once he's been driving around the streets, he's going to see the mirrors and the whole parking thing as an annoying hastle. But if he learns to park and use mirrors first, he'll have a better appreciation for the dimensions of the car before he is ever out on the street.
Now take him on an empty road. Teach him that if a car gets behind yours, to signal right and pull over a bit so the car can pass. This will let your kid drive around on a real street but without having to worry too much about other traffic. Teach him to do stop signs, making sure he understands the right of way in the various situations.
As he gets more experience and confidence, you can take him into roads with higher speed limits, red lights. Teach him how to make left turns. Go out with him in the middle of the day and tell him which turns to take. Without him knowing it, take him onto the freeway (do pick a time when it's likely to be empty) and guide him through merging. This is what my dad did when I was learning. He didn't make a big deal out of it, we just "ended up" on the freeway, and he's like "you just did what is probably the hardest aspect of driving - merged into freeway traffic"
In general, use your brain and have patience with your kid. Make sure he knows that cars are dangerous. Explain to him that hitting pedestrians and byciclists is an expensive amusement. Tell him that if the brakes ever fail, aim to crash into the cheapest car rather than the shiny new Benz.
No video game is going to replace your having to go through it with him. Do use your car. Start off in a completely safe area. Let him get a feel for the controls and the dimensions of the vehicle. Then take is gradually from there.
Next thing you know he'll be able to do the 500 mile drive from Cleveland to NYC all on his own, a week after getting his licence, like I did.
If he DOES do that, do teach him how to parallel park first. Because I had to figure it out on my own once I got to Brooklyn
Ecce Europa - Web Design for Business
Through the game, my son has picked up the basics of driving. He's learned a few things about traction, speed and cornering. But I've noticed that there are some things that he simply can't "get" no matter how much he practices and I coach.
I think one of the biggest reasons for this is, as another poster noted elsewhere, GT may be the best driving simulator, but it's really not all that great when compared with the real thing. GT doesn't supply a big enough field of view, it doesn't supply G-forces or enough kinesthetic feedback, and it certainly doesn't make you scared of hitting things.
The limitations of the gaming platform mean that, at best, Gran Turismo will remind an experienced driver of certain events/actions -- it doesn't provide enough feedback to provide that experience. For instance, if you're driving (in GT) a normal car with a loose suspension and brake hard, you'll see the car nosedive. You won't feel it nosedive, you won't feel the G-force pushing you toward the steering wheel, and you won't feel the sudden lack of those forces if your tires break traction. An experienced driver will see the dip in GT and know what it means, and react to it. To my son, it's just a visual effect.
So, I plan to load my kid into my hopped-up '94 Integra and take him to a parking lot. That will probably provide a lot more real-world experience than Gran Turismo ever will.