Driving games

I'm a frequent viewer  of BBC's Top Gear which airs on BBC America in the U.S.  I enjoy the antics of the hosts and reviews of cars I'd never be able to see let alone drive so it's a nice change of pace from the usual car show fare.

I was watching an older episode where Jeremy, one of the hosts, was trying to see if he could match a lap time obtained in the driving game Forza Motorsport with the same car on the same track in the real world.  The car was an Acura NSX on the very real Laguna Seca racetrack and with Forza being one of the more faithful driving simulations it seemed a fair match up.  Without recounting the entire episode I can tell you that he couldn't get closer than within 17 seconds of his gaming result. 

Now a better driver might have done better but that's not the point.  The point is that driving skills don't necessarily translate from the real to the virtual world or vice versa.  At least not at the current level of driving game evolution.


Let's face it,  I don't care who you are, unless you're sitting in a multimillion dollar driving simulator you can't even get close to the real life driving experience.  No game can possibly duplicate all the the random scenarios that come up.  Games that try usually end up being unplayable because you can't apply the same judgement to a simulation on a computer screen that you would looking out your windshield. 

There's literally a "seat of the pants" dynamic that can't be duplicated and therefore can't be responded to in an equivalent manner.  Steering wheels, pedals and multiple monitors help but it's still not the same experience.

There have been a few events in the past where gamers got the chance to do the real thing on a special track day always with a strong dose of humility at the end.  You may be able to turn 45 second laps on Laguna Seca in a Ferrari Enzo in Forza but you'll have a tough time even figuring out the seat belts in the real thing.

Still driving games are fun and for me some of the best would have to be Need For Speed Shift, Race Driver Grid and Dirt 2.  Those are more of the simulation variety with a healthy dose of arcade gameplay to make them playable.  Other titles like the older Test Drive unlimited, Flatout or Need For Speed titles like Most Wanted are pure arcade. Leave your sense of reality at the door and just have fun with those.

One of the worst I ever played would have to be Test Drive Unlimited.  That's a shame because it's a truly gorgeous game mapped on the real life highways of the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii.  Driving it sometimes felt like a vacation and made me long for doing the real thing someday minus the 150mph speeds of course.  I'm sure Hawaii jails are just as unpleasant as anywhere else in the states.

The problem with this game was it demanded driving skills of a simulation but reacted like an arcade game.  That meant realism without any means of feedback.  Such multiple personality disorders can make for annoying gameplay.  A pothole in the middle of the road could cause a catastrophic end which would be fine if you could actually see it coming and react ( I never saw a pothole BTW ).  A brush against a freeway wall meant literally sticking to it and coming to a dead stop instead of a glancing blow.  Car control was marginal at best which made every race less about racing and more about avoiding game bugs.  Not fun...

So what makes a good driving game?  That's as subjective as your taste in cars.  If it's fun for you, looks good on the screen and you don't take it too seriously then it's worth having in your game library.

In the end, however, it's still just a game so don't go running off thinking you're all that.  Having the best lap time on the Internet  doesn't mean anything in the real world.  Don't feel too bad though, I've seen more than one successful race driver do horribly in a driving game.