rec.autos.simulators

I am looking for a program I can use in a "Safety Room" we are developing. I
need something to simulate normal everyday driving. With this I am going to
use some devices to simulate being impaired and driving in normal traffic.
Any suggestions?

If you are looking for something which is realistic to drive then
probably Papyrus' NASCAR1 is the best bet. Note that "NASCAR2" would
probably not be best suited to your requirements because of the heavy
wheelspin whenever starting.

All the other products I can think of (and there are lots!) are too
unrealistic for steering, they are time limited, the behaviour is
exaggerated or unsuitable in some other way.

Just watch out for people playing instead of researching! Whizzing
round Michigan at 190+ gets pretty ***ive :)

Cheers!
John

As for off-the-shelf products, there really aren't that many (probably
not any) that simulate sufficiently real-world driving for your needs.
Sierra is purported to working on a title "Drivers' Ed" which may or may
not suit your needs. In any event, it's not released, nor have I heard a
release date for it.

(As for using the racing simulators impaired, I've done some empirical
testing and I can assure you that my lap times in SODA and GPL
dramatically worsened the farther we moved away from the "control group"
experiment. :-) The effect wasn't as noticable in N2, since that really
is too easy for small values of impairment to cause big losses in car
control...)

---Jim

Yeah - I also use an Indy car as my daily driver - it certainly gets
me to work on time. I have to use hand signals of course, because
there are no indicators on it. and the police don't like me wearing a
crash helmet because it's illegal. It's also a bit of a *** in the
dark  - no lights .....;o]

I try not to use my Nascar auto, because the wheelspin wakes the
neighbours up in the morning and I don't want to upset them. It's fun
in traffic because I can ram other drivers of the road if they upset
me.

I may just have to get myself a Thrust SSC, because everybody drives
those now. I don't know what it'll be like in traffic, but I guess the
twin jets will keep the boy-racers off my ***.... oh yes - and
reversing may be a bit tricky .....

I tried that on the roundabout under the Croydon fly-over, but I hit
the wall (true!!)

Other than that, Nascar Racing is the ideal program to simulate daily
driving conditions.

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I believe that Sierra is working on a product called Driver's Ed (or something
 to that effect) that is exactly what you're looking for. Check www.sierra.com
 for more info...

-/- BW

seems to me Atari was doing similar with an arcade game engine, used to
make Hard driving, in the article I read (over 6 years ago) the machine
brand new in arcade form was $1,400 approx.  the game had decent physics,
and feedback on the steering wheel, and had option clutch (manual
transmission) and shifter.  It was a sit down unit with adjustable seat.
Potential for driving instruction was very HIGH, but never have heard much
since early 90's.
--
-------Thanks
          Stinger

I thought we were talking 'real life'!  ;o]

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