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Videogame Driving Skills Don't Apply In Real Life

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the neither-does-katamari-damacy dept.

the digital nomad writes "When driving cars in videogames, you're often forced to see everything from a third-person perspective. Now, what would happen if you tried to drive while limited to that odd view in real life? These folks decided to find out."

6 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. WTF? by TheKidWho · · Score: 4, Informative

    What? When I play my racing games I'm in my seat with a G25 steering wheel playing "games" like iRacing.

    And yes, the skills translate very well into real life. But don't take it from me, take it from the pros.

    Many real life racers, including Justin Wilson, Alex Gurney, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Marcos Ambrose, Martin Truex Jr., AJ Allmendinger, Scott Speed and Jacques Villeneuve have subscribed to the service and given positive comments especially about the accuracy of the track modeling which makes the simulator useful as a tool for learning tracks.[15]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRacing.com

    1. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Your quote refers to learning the tracks not learning to operate a vehicle.

  2. Easy. by fractalus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Stop playing your driving games in third-person view.

    --
    People are never as simple as their stereotypes. This applies equally to Christians, Muslims, and Emacs-lovers.
  3. What about this guy...? by mayko · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/12/04/1516204/Gran-Turismo-Gamer-Becomes-Pro-Race-Driver

    Granted in his case the main thing that helped him was practicing consistency in hitting braking points and adherence to a proper racing line. I doubt the game actually improved his physical ability behind the wheel.

  4. Credit where it is due: Roosterteeth did this by millisa · · Score: 4, Informative

    Rooster Teeth Shorts, Immersion (Pilot)

    Not cool that Gizmodo didn't give them credit. These are the same guys that do the Red Vs Blue machinima.

  5. Re:Night Driver FTW by TheLink · · Score: 3, Informative

    Video game driving skills do apply to real life:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/sports/othersports/04nascar.html

    http://www.dailytech.com/Champion+Gran+Turismo+Gamer+Becomes+Realworld+Racing+Champion/article17035.htm

    Quote: At the camp, Ordoñez proved a natural at racing in real world cars. He found his "experience to be consistent in the laps and to know the perfect line in the tracks" had helped him to be able to recognize real-world braking points.

    As for the article/story:
    1) The camera angle was too low for the car, and it was fixed.
    2) In GTA3 etc who cares about hitting small stuff like traffic cones?

    --