Does driving computer driving games improve your driving?

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~norbtech -- Todd Norbury Norbury Technologies

i think so...if the game is realistic.... They should make a game where you drive production cars and in career mode, you can upgrade your cars with aftermarket upgrades. A lot like viper racing, but with a lot more cars

Absolutely not. I am having more and more trouble anticipating the physical consequences of my actions on the real roadway. I no longer believe hitting that guardrail will cause any damage. -- Mark Jeangerard www.soundchaserweb.com New Mexico USA > http://www.ozemail.com.au/~norbtech > -- > Todd Norbury > Norbury Technologies

sounds sort of like SCGT to me. I just wish that they had some more lower end cars to race with. Although it would be pretty neat to take a Honda Accord and see how it does against a Taurus. I doubt that the game would sell good enough though I think that racing games do improve driving in dangerous situations. I definately trains you to be more alert. the friendly pysco

Um, Gran Turismo features all sorts of unusual "sports cars". Like the famous Mazda Demio Aspec, a square hatchback econobox, useless at first inspection, but the lightest car in the game, and capable of winning not only its fairly trivial category races, but also with hard tuning, but without "racing modification", the GT Cup--the second-highest series in the "GT League". Subura and Honda station wagons, hilarious looking in racing trim, (the Impreza keeps its roof racks even when race-modified!) and suffering from horrible turbo-lag can also accomplish things which would have seemed impossible when you first tried the game. And a 1993 Honda Civic 3 door Si is a positive star. The hard-tuning of the cars isn't shown as "after-market", but, apart from not providing a lot of choice, it might as well be. And, yes I guess a lot of the more extreme modifications are pretty bogus. But you can restrict the modifications you choose. And, since the AI cars try so hard to let you win, you can use the two player mode to do serious car comparisons. Or you can do time-trials with "ghost" cars, in which you race a non-solid image of one of your previous runs. But then, Gran Turismo hasn't sold very well, has it? Adrian. Yikes. Alert I always was. After playing Gran Turismo, you have to be careful not to apply some of the "full-contact" techniques which work in the game, though. 8-) Adrian.

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>the friendly pysco >> i think so...if the game is realistic.... >> They should make a game where you drive production cars and in career >mode, >> you can upgrade your cars with aftermarket upgrades. >> A lot like viper racing, but with a lot more cars

P.S. Gran Turismo even has Vipers too.

I found, at night in the winter, but on clear roads, that having played a fair amount of Gran Turismo caused me to be over-cautious. I kept wondering why the car didn't feel on the edge, and kept waiting to react to motions and other stimuli which never happened, so I slowed down, subconsciously afraid that things were really wrong. That can't be good. I probably slowed down almost to the speed limit. That can really obstruct other drivers. Realizing that you can't bounce off objects (or other cars) is not a serious consideration, however. My mind flawlessly knows the difference between reality and sim/game in that case. What I really want to see is if it's made me a better or worse recreational go-karter, the next time we get together an expedition to the local indoor kartway. I've probably learned some things about correct lines, and when to bother and not bother taking them. Adrian.

I found that playing SCGT, NASCAR 99, and a few others has allowed me to cut almost a 0.005 from my daily commute to work. I think I could improve this a little more if I play GPL more but all in due time. The biggest improvement for me has come from learning the best lines in the turns. Traveling on a road named Fall Creek road, which has some pretty good twists to it, I love hitting the apex at the right times. The twist to that is the occasional car coming at me in the opposite direction, they tend to get alittle irate when I push into their lane and they have to take evasive action. Of course, with school starting, I now have the occasional school bus to deal with, but I do out accelerate them. Dave

Have you tried driving bog stock Demio's in multiplayer, brilliant fun and some of the closest racing I've ever done in a game. Mark London UK Yamaha TRX850

>I found that playing SCGT, NASCAR 99, and a few others has allowed me to cut >almost a 0.005 from my daily commute to work. :-) Well, my dollar-three-eighty: I've done pretty darn well as a novice autox'er spanking a lot of unobtanium cars and didn't do too badly on my first go at karting. I attribute whatever non-patheticness I demonstrated to my (too many to admit) hours of computer driving sim time. Still doesn't mean I know a damn about steering feel though...