Milo Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 As a fairly balanced bunch, do you think real life driving skills improve your performance on computer driving games like GT4? Similarly, do you think being good on a computer game makes you a better driver in real life? Or are the 2 completely unconnected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilB Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 The only way I feel that computer games can make you a better driver is on a track. Because if your going to a track for the first time it can help you know which way the track goes so you can concentracte on the line and when to brake and turn in, rather then learning it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallachie Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 I agree that playing on a computer game helps you learn lines etc on a track, but it does nothing to teach you how to handle a car in the 'real world'. I find that I'm so cautious on the road that I will never be able to get the most out of my car, nor learn how to handle it on or near the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durrsaku Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Well unless you are part of an F1 team with almost real life simulators available to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallachie Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 [ QUOTE ] Well unless you are part of an F1 team with almost real life simulators available to you. [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, most people have access to that...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 I have voted no for normal driving, it can help your line etc. for track days around circuits you don't know but not much more than that really. Maybe a little bit but not so that you would notice. I think some people still think they are in front of the TV when they drive.. muppets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durrsaku Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Well unless you are part of an F1 team with almost real life simulators available to you. [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, most people have access to that...... [/ QUOTE ] That is why i voted no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R32North Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Track and race use, but not for real life driving because the 'unknown' factors in real life don't exist in games, ie plonkers, pedestrians, cyclists, etc. They could be programmed into games but the sheer randomness of their actions in real life couldn't be replicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduisbergkid Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 No, no comparison. How can you feel the road, traction, acceleration etc. Software is good for learning track though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dq1 Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Computer games can also, in some cases, improve hand eye co-ordination which, judging by some peoples driving they have none of!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Rather than opinion, here's some fact. I went to the 'ring in September with a group of guys. On one guys first lap out, he crashed nose on into the barrier causing £28.5k's damage to his XKR and therefore writing it off. When we suggested it was because he didn't know the track and hence the severity of the combination he crashed at, he denied it whole heartedly insisting he knew the track. He'd watched some videos and had played GT4. Interestingly I find GT4 is quite realistic although all the guys that were first timers at the 'ring said it didn't seem at all like real life at all. I did see a really scary quote on a forum a year or so back where a gamer posted that he was driving a long a road and looked at his reflection in a shop window. His immediate thought was "wow! what a great graphic!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 I think game playing can help improve your reactions, but equally there is a real feeling of invincibility playing games cos you can't mangle your car and you can't die and it doesn't matter who else you hit. Transferring any of that attitude to the real world (and it must happen to a degree for some people) is a scary scary concept... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shao_khan Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 No comparison - I am excellent on driving games, but I wouldnt trust me behind the wheel of a real car...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soapsuds Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 cant remember what progamme (or maybe magazine), but a while back, they put an AMAZING gamer behind the wheel of a track car and an AMAZING track driver behind the contoller of a game. Gamer was crap on the track Driver was great at the game..... Read from it what you will..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 If you play a real simulation it can teach you a little, I had a slide in my Fiesta when I hit standing water once and I believe I knew how to control it and was able to react almost as a reflex because I had done similar things in a game. Most the time though its not relevent though, track/gaming is about achieving as close to perfection as you can, a road is too unpredictable for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milo Posted November 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 I'm crap on GT4 for example however let me loose on a public road and it's a different story. I'm sightly less crap I'm like Mills though, I'll never get to know just how well any car I own will perfom or just how far I could push it as I value it too much. Scotty's mate's XKR is a classic example of what can go wrong. To trash the car would be a disaster but to do it on a track day with no insurance (?) doesn't bear thinking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrzed Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Going from the track to the game I find that my times improve. But from the game to the track is a different story because you can't feel the car in a game. I know that GT4 was used by the drivers in the Japanese Lupo and Golf Cups because most of them were ametuers who couldn't get in enough practice time on the real courses. How realistic the real courses are in GT4 I don't know because I haven't been to any of them yet. Suzuka and Fuji are fairly close to home but the cost of a track day is phenomenal. The average track day on a 1km course will set you back about 50 quid for a full day but you are looking at something in excess of 100 quid for an hour, or 2 if you're lucky, on Suzuka. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mixit Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Just to come at this from a slightly different angle. As a Computer Games retailer, Iv'e seen many a young lad grab hold of a Joypad and jump straight into NFS / GT / Toca etc. The one overriding fact remains, if the person has never driven for real ( too young or otherwise ) they invariably have no point of reference for "feeling" what a car is actually doing. Visual cues are one thing, and I know most driving games now are very accurate in what they "Show". But we all know, there's no substitute for that "Seat of the Pants" feeling. Because of this they do tend to crash a lot when they first play a new game. Much more than experienced drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted November 17, 2005 Report Share Posted November 17, 2005 Good video games with reliably accurate circuit details are regularly used by real racing drivers for circuit familiarity - i.e. getting the general feel of the circuit, fast sections, slow sections, and generally which way it goes. But they still need time on the real track to give them any realistic idea of gradient, grip, braking points and the detail "seat of the pants" feel Mixit mentions. Interesting point higher up - a good racing driver is likely to be good on a console, but not vice versa. I can see that. As much as anything else, a good racer will be alot smoother, and a good game like GT4 will reward that. There is a general degree to which regular gamers will have developed good hand-eye co-ordination and good reactions - useful tools in the armoury of a racing driver, but no more than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmj Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 I would imagine that if someone is good at computer driving games this would instill a false sense of his/her skills and result in tears... You only get one life for real... I know after an evening of playing GT2 I have driven home faster as it brings on a different mind set. Another point is, I've never been very good at computer games, but can (and enjoy) GT. Oh and Crash Bandicoot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 I tend to find myself playing computer games when I'd like to go take the car out for a thrashing so that I don't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilB Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 I have top say that GPL is the most realistic sim that I have ever played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malagus Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 I hope GT4 makes for a good driver - if so i can pass my test quicker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorburn Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 [ QUOTE ] I hope GT4 makes for a good driver - if so i can pass my test quicker! [/ QUOTE ] It doesn't in a learning sense, no game will (well, you CAN try a bit by playing GTA and not breaking the laws but its still not the same), a big part of road driving is awareness, not racing lines. On the beyond the limits reactions side I believe it does to a degree, but then you shouldn't be beyond the limits of your car on the public road..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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