Computer games - representative of real driving skill?

[PetrolHeadSeb]

The thread about Gran Turismo 5 sparked the thought of whether or not your skill on a modern computer driving game is representative of your real driving skill on the road / track?

For me, I don't think it is. I personally think my driving is better in real life than on the computer, I also know a lot of people who are the opposite.

What about you?

[Nash_wrx]

my driving in real life is way better than my driving in games

[Blue Meanie]

They are completely different. It may help you get better lines, but driving a car, and fiddling with a control connected to a box have no real tangible similarities. You don't feel braking or acceleration forces, you don't feel the steering, or brakes as you would in a car. It is a representation, not reality. It is different, I suppose, in top notch simulators, but I don't think the 2 cross all that well.

Saying that, I am crap at both.

[slipstream 1985]

nothing like it, and nothing like the attitude either. iv lost count the number of times on forza some idiot has turned in on me and taken us both out rather than concede the corner ready to fight back at the next one..

[EDLT]

I can do a sub-7 minute lap of the Nurburgring in a tuned Holden Commedore on GT4, in reality I've never been to Germany.

[doodles19]

No.

[zeppelin101]

Even the sims used by the F1 teams aren't great in terms of driving experience. I've used one and while there is movement and some representation of force, it is (imo) very unnatural as there is a "shock" force, not a sustained feeling of G.

I used to play a lot of PC sims and wasn't bad. I limit myself to Forza these days and would prefer to use half a tank of petrol than burn 2 hours playing online with people who will cheat and crash into you for no reason unless you're in a "series". Mind you, it feels like driving on the road isn't all that different sometimes!

[Aiten]

I like to parallel park in GTA. In real life I do not.
Case closed.

[ben10]

A month or 2 back in top gear magazine they found the fastest bloke in the world on a particular racing simulator and stuck him in a single seater race car (not sure which on) and on a proper track and he was incredibly fast.

I can't remember the exact times but I believe he was only about 4 seconds a lap off pace on his first couple of laps and then managed to bring it down to around a second or 2 a lap.

N.B. He was from Finland and therefore bout to be fast in a car!

[Graebob]

I'm pretty good on games/sims. I'm pretty rubbish on track, and I act completely different on road. A good chum of mine is excellent on track (paid instructor), is rubbish at games and is the same as me on road.

So no.

Edited by Graebob on Friday 15th October 23:44

[doodles19]

Aiten said:

I like to parallel park in GTA. In real life I do not.
Case closed.

You're doing it wrong... surely the whole point of GTA in terms of cars is to pull up right outside where you want to go, in some car on its last legs just about to burst into flames.... Not so much parking precision, of course this is just my opinion.

[Steamer]

.... no

I have a friend with a brilliant 'virtual garage' of GT cars and he pretty handy with a controller to boot...

However, stick him in a real car and he is a passenger's nightmare - we are talking labouring up hills in 5th at 30mph Pulls out to overtake cars without a down change and a clutch biting point of around 3000rpm

[PetrolHeadSeb]

I've got a friend at work who's a car enthusiast, yet doesn't drive (bit of a face palm situation really)

Anyway, he quite enjoys his racing games and we've often debated whether his experience of in game physics etc would give him any advantage in real world car control. I don't really know, but I think it must be transferable to some extent

As for lines and stuff, I actually find my lines are much better in real life than in game, although I do think that I got some knowledge of lines from games which has helped me in some way.

[3 Sheds]

Aiten said:

I like to parallel park in GTA. In real life I do not.
Case closed.

I'm with you there - Actually I'd consider GTA is representative of real driving in the Midlands.

[to3m]

I've found playing GT3 a lot (mainly powerful street cars, with driver assists off) has made it easier to drive in treacherous conditions. Probably nothing specific to it, just a bit of experience driving around and going into a 36,000 degree spin every time you do more than caress the accelerator or breathe on the steering.

One thing I do remember from GT3, which caused me numerous problems in Forza, is that you can corner at speed by jamming on the brakes and turning in to the corner. It's more efficient to spin outwards a bit by slowing down first then accelerating through, true, but braking does work to some extent. Not so in Forza 3! And, so it turns out, not so in real life either...

(That said, brake-then-turn-in DOES work perfectly fine in Outrun 2. However I would not believe that skill at Outrun 2 is representative of anything )

Edited by to3m on Saturday 16th October 00:14

[otolith]

I know that if I select my own car in GT5p and enable the clutch and H-pattern gearbox, I can't heel & toe for toffee

[Gizmo!]

I think an appreciation of car control physics helps with both.

However driving on the road, 99% of the time is nothing to do with car control and all about predicting what on earth the ten million other people on the road are up to... at least in the South East!

Certainly I can do things in racing games that have my brain screaming at me to slow down (Schwedenkreuz flat out in an Elise 111R springs to mind).

[bozibo]

Gizmo! said:

However driving on the road, 99% of the time is nothing to do with car control and all about predicting what on earth the ten million other people on the road are up to... at least in the South East!

At least on the computer games I actually get to go somewhere - I am also in the South East and all I generally do is sit in traffic!

[Blayney]

On the whole, being "good" at a racing game does not translate into being "good" on the track.

However... GT Academy has shown that being the best at a racing game, can translate into being rather good on the track.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_GT4_European_Cup...

See Luca Ordonez? First winner of the GT academy. First season of racing.

[MGZRod]

I don't think it's representative of skill per se, but more understanding of how things work.

I.e your 'go fast everywhere, because I'm so quick' people will drive like mutters in game, slam on brakes mid corner and full lock etc etc. And in real life, lazy driving (arm on 12oclock other on gearstick) stupid lines and full throttle mid corner after braking

but your enthusiasts enjoy driving smoothly and find it rewarding being smoother and quicker which usually reflects onto their real life driving.