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Video Games Linked To Reckless Driving

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the causation-tag-here-we-come dept.

An anonymous reader writes "'A new study suggests video games that involve reckless driving may play out in real life. Researchers say their data should not be taken lightly since car accidents are the number one cause of death for teenagers.' Just a case of video games being used as a convenient scapegoat, or could there be some truth to this?"

3 of 337 comments (clear)

  1. I found the opposite by localman57 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    About 10 years ago I got really into the game "Midtown Madness" which features races where you race free-form through downtown Chicago picking your own route to hit a number of checkpoints. The game requires you to read traffic patterns, lights, etc far in advance. After playing the game, I found that I was doing the same thing in real traffic. My brain had been trained to observe and anticipate as if I were driving through city traffic at 80MPH rather than 35. I became much more aware of what was happening on cross streets, and in lanes other than mine. It faded back to normal, though, as I moved on to other games.

    I do wonder, however, if being able to crash a car repeatedly with no real consequences has an impact on your subconcious risk-assesment of various manuvers.

  2. Spy Hunter by Stargoat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    People have been claiming this since Spy Hunter came out. It was bunk then and it is bunk now. It's not video games that make you drive fast, it's the Peter Gunn theme.

    --
    Hoist Number One and Number Six.
  3. Re:Bunch of idiots by 2obvious4u · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here is some information for you:

    Top Gear vs Gran Turismo - Possibly the most awesome thing ever posted to /. if I do say so myself.

    wiki reference

    I've seen this done by other gaming mags before with similar results. If someone has those links that would be awesome as well.