No person's opinions can be said to be
more correct than another's, because each is
the sole judge of his or her own experience.
--
Don Burnette
Dburn in N3 and Legends
> No person's opinions can be said to be
> more correct than another's, because each is
> the sole judge of his or her own experience.
This program is actually pretty good for giving driving practice. It
doesn't replace in-car practice, but it augments it. There are
problems, though.
The first problem is the controls. Most steering wheels have four
buttons and two levers (or foot pedals) to control brake and gas pedal.
For this simulation, the left and right buttons on the steering wheel
bring up the side mirror views (which take up the corner of the regular
screen), and the two "dash" buttons give rearview mirror view
and "quick look" view (glance left and right in reduced screen). This
means that for signals and shoulder checking, you have to use the
keyboard -- rather difficult, when you have both hands on the steering
wheel. What's more, the signal keys (Ctrl = signal left, Alt = signal
right) are designed to be operated with the left hand, while the other
view keys are mainly located on the right (Insert, Home, Delete, End,
Page Up and Page Down). So, while driving, there tends to be a rather
unnatural degree of hand activity, as you quickly try to find keys.
Things are a bit easier with an eight-button joystick, because four of
the buttons are assigned to Look Left, Look Right and signals -- but
who wants to practice driving with a joystick?!
The software requires the keystrokes so it can determine whether you've
checked your mirrors or shoulder before a turn or lane change and
deduct points if you didn't, but it makes for a clumsy, unintuitive
interface that doesn't feel like a car (after all, in real life you
don't have to press a button to glance at a mirror). I would have
preferred a system that makes use of the limited number of buttons
available. Perhaps have the steering wheel buttons control left & right
mirrors when pressed quickly, and do Look Left / Look Right when
pressed and held. Or perhaps display mirrors all the time, but have
more hazards appearing in them.
The roads themselves are realistic, and the car seems to manoeuvre like
a real one. I was hoping the amount of traffic would increase as the
tests progressed, but even in the "heavy traffic" sections, it seemed
pretty light. Keyboard issues aside, the environment is a little too
easy to drive, with straight or smoothly curving roads, straightforward
intersections, and not many tricky turns. I would have liked to see
more one-way streets, hidden driveways, school buses that stop and turn
on their signals, and other cars that don't follow the rules, and
provide a reason for you to be cautions. For example, the program tells
you to check both ways at intersections, but (other than losing points)
there are no repercussions if you don't.
An odd problem I noticed -- the left turn lanes seem to have their
markings backwards. I don't know if it's a US/Canada difference, but
here in Canada a left turn lane will have a yellow dashed line on the
outside, and a solid line on the inside. In this simulation it's the
other way around.
Traffic lights change a little too rapidly, and if you pull into an
intersection to turn left, then turn when the light changes to orange,
you will usually be penalized for running a red.
The simulation consists of two parts. One is a series of written tests
on typical driving school topics. It seems quite thorough. The other
part is the in-car sessions, in which you are accompanied by "Driver
Ed", who sounds a bit like one of those leading male cartoon characters
(Aladdin, Fred from Scooby Doo... etc.). He will spur you on with
sycophantic comments like "Nice driving", and "You keep this up, you're
gonna have your license soon!" This, as I am crawling down the highway
at 7 mph, while hunting for the Left View key. Unfortunately, you can't
turn him off, because he also gives instructions on where you're
supposed to go next.
If things are going really badly (points deducted for a move that
should have been OK) you can at least get your own back by speeding
down the highway at top speed, while Driver Ed tells you how dangerous
your driving is and threatens to get out. (Please! Get out! Go!)
Overall, I found this program to be helpful in practising for my
licence (which I have just passed at the tender age of 39!). But the
overall approach is strictly To Teach, and it's a little patronising. I
think I would feel the same way even if I were one of the 16-year-olds
the game is clearly intended for. It's a shame. The simulation could be
a much more entertaining game -- particularly if there was more
activity to be aware of. A simulation should have more dangers than the
real world, not fewer dangers.
As I mentioned, there is now a Driver's Education 99. Anybody know what
the difference is?
Duncan McKenzie
Toronto, Canada
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
The BMW driver awareness CD Rom
http://www.bized.ac.uk/compfact/bmw/bmwedu.htm
might be useful, but the improvements to drivers ed that you suggest
would be a good idea.
> This program is actually pretty good for giving driving practice. It
> doesn't replace in-car practice, but it augments it. There are
> problems, though.
> The first problem is the controls. Most steering wheels have four
> buttons and two levers (or foot pedals) to control brake and gas
pedal.
> For this simulation, the left and right buttons on the steering wheel
> bring up the side mirror views (which take up the corner of the
regular
> screen), and the two "dash" buttons give rearview mirror view
> and "quick look" view (glance left and right in reduced screen). This
> means that for signals and shoulder checking, you have to use the
> keyboard -- rather difficult, when you have both hands on the steering
> wheel. What's more, the signal keys (Ctrl = signal left, Alt = signal
> right) are designed to be operated with the left hand, while the other
> view keys are mainly located on the right (Insert, Home, Delete, End,
> Page Up and Page Down). So, while driving, there tends to be a rather
> unnatural degree of hand activity, as you quickly try to find keys.
> Things are a bit easier with an eight-button joystick, because four of
> the buttons are assigned to Look Left, Look Right and signals -- but
> who wants to practice driving with a joystick?!
> The software requires the keystrokes so it can determine whether
you've
> checked your mirrors or shoulder before a turn or lane change and
> deduct points if you didn't, but it makes for a clumsy, unintuitive
> interface that doesn't feel like a car (after all, in real life you
> don't have to press a button to glance at a mirror). I would have
> preferred a system that makes use of the limited number of buttons
> available. Perhaps have the steering wheel buttons control left &
right
> mirrors when pressed quickly, and do Look Left / Look Right when
> pressed and held. Or perhaps display mirrors all the time, but have
> more hazards appearing in them.
> The roads themselves are realistic, and the car seems to manoeuvre
like
> a real one. I was hoping the amount of traffic would increase as the
> tests progressed, but even in the "heavy traffic" sections, it seemed
> pretty light. Keyboard issues aside, the environment is a little too
> easy to drive, with straight or smoothly curving roads,
straightforward
> intersections, and not many tricky turns. I would have liked to see
> more one-way streets, hidden driveways, school buses that stop and
turn
> on their signals, and other cars that don't follow the rules, and
> provide a reason for you to be cautions. For example, the program
tells
> you to check both ways at intersections, but (other than losing
points)
> there are no repercussions if you don't.
> An odd problem I noticed -- the left turn lanes seem to have their
> markings backwards. I don't know if it's a US/Canada difference, but
> here in Canada a left turn lane will have a yellow dashed line on the
> outside, and a solid line on the inside. In this simulation it's the
> other way around.
> Traffic lights change a little too rapidly, and if you pull into an
> intersection to turn left, then turn when the light changes to orange,
> you will usually be penalized for running a red.
> The simulation consists of two parts. One is a series of written tests
> on typical driving school topics. It seems quite thorough. The other
> part is the in-car sessions, in which you are accompanied by "Driver
> Ed", who sounds a bit like one of those leading male cartoon
characters
> (Aladdin, Fred from Scooby Doo... etc.). He will spur you on with
> sycophantic comments like "Nice driving", and "You keep this up,
you're
> gonna have your license soon!" This, as I am crawling down the highway
> at 7 mph, while hunting for the Left View key. Unfortunately, you
can't
> turn him off, because he also gives instructions on where you're
> supposed to go next.
> If things are going really badly (points deducted for a move that
> should have been OK) you can at least get your own back by speeding
> down the highway at top speed, while Driver Ed tells you how dangerous
> your driving is and threatens to get out. (Please! Get out! Go!)
> Overall, I found this program to be helpful in practising for my
> licence (which I have just passed at the tender age of 39!). But the
> overall approach is strictly To Teach, and it's a little patronising.
I
> think I would feel the same way even if I were one of the 16-year-olds
> the game is clearly intended for. It's a shame. The simulation could
be
> a much more entertaining game -- particularly if there was more
> activity to be aware of. A simulation should have more dangers than
the
> real world, not fewer dangers.
> As I mentioned, there is now a Driver's Education 99. Anybody know
what
> the difference is?
> Duncan McKenzie
> Toronto, Canada
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
There's a feature called Free Drive. If you use that, you can drive
wherever you want, and do whatever you want, but the sim stops if you
hit anything (see below). It was kind of interesting going top speed
the wrong way down the freeway. Although the other cars don't seem to
worry much -- eg, they don't take any evasive action.
I don't think so.
None. As soon as you hit anything, you get a screeching of tires and a
THUNK, and then a crane shot zooms out showing your car. Then the
simulation ends.
You get the same result whether you hit another vehicle head on at 80
mph, or tap the vehicle behind you at 1 mph in the parking lot.
Basic damage modeling would be a great addition, actually. If they want
to show that speed kills, it'd be neat to see a concertina-ed car and
*** on the windshield after a high-speed collision. Or maybe
something like in Red Baron, where your vision gets all dark and
***y. Ewwww.
We're not far behind here in Ontario. I've read that the world's
busiest freeway is the Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles, and number
two is the 401 Highway in Toronto.
But I'm surprised you guys need a game to take out your aggression.
Can't you just go out an buy a handgun or some automatic weapons?
Duncan McKenzie
Toronto, Canada
Sent via Deja.com http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Before you buy.
