Lil4X

According to a study by British Continental Tyres, people who spend a significant portion of their time playing video games like "Grand Theft Auto" and "Grand Turismo" are more likely to take their skills, or lack of them, to the street. It's not just a question of developing a habit of dangerous risk-taking, but coupled with a reset button and no consequences to a shattering crash, gamers are programming themselves to ignore danger and routinely attempt extremely dangerous maneuvers on their computer. Now that experience is being reflected out on the road, where there are physical as well as traffic laws, and equally unskilled and irresponsible drivers.

What's more, gamers often rate their real-world driving skills as superior - based solely on their game skills. Sadly, there is no transfer of skills between driving a computer simulation designed to provide plenty of crash-and-burn action, and the public highway. Insurance experts who are now reviewing driver history, concur - gamers are often much poorer risks, even among their age group.

With no chance of financial loss, personal liability, or injury, aggressive driving has no downside. Maybe if the game self-destructed after every minor bump, forcing the player to buy a new game, it might teach kids a little real-world responsibility.

TRDFantasy

This is not really a surprise; there are too many arcade racers and not enough real driving simulators out there. It's all about money; most game studios don't want to release simulators because those games are hard because they are realistic. That will result in less sales since many people will find such games highly difficult.

Jewcano

iTrader: (4)

This sounds just as bad as people blaming games for violent youth. A game does not make a child violent just as a gun does not kill. These are all catalysts. People are inherently one way or another. If someone is a bad driver, then the game is their catalyst based on this study. Lets not forget texting, alcohol, poor eye sight, or just poor skill overall. This sounds like another blame game.

Blackraven

^^^This

In short
Hate the player, not the game

Lil4X

Whether a racing game or a first-person shooter, typical video games, by removing consequences, allow players to take risks that no sane person would take. They can cross lethal limits time after time to test multiple strategies, where in real life it would only be possible once.

This isn't inherent to simulations in general, but the game design. Many of our military units are using combat simulators to teach tactics in a way that real life cannot. Using realistic weapons and well documented opposition force tactics, the simulations can be very useful as a training tool, particularly for soldiers and airmen going into combat for the first time. Of course the next step, training with the actual hardware on a weapons range, is still required to develop proficiency, once the "big picture" is learned.

As far as "making" a person resort to violence more easily, perhaps its true - particularly in a virtual world without personal consequences, but games alone can't create a violent personality where none existed before, in fact, quite the opposite - they can lead an individual to take foolish chances and take himself out of the "game". The value of a "sim" is to teach survival skills while carrying out a group assignment.

2002GGPIS3

Very interesting study, I can see why this is the case, but to me, growing up playing need for speed, gran turismo and forza racing games, improves my reaction time and hand and eye correlation, and good thing, I swerved out of the way of hitting a deer at 60 mph saturday night.

Again you have to know, what you do in a car in a video game, you can't do in real life, but the fast reactions in the games, help in real world driving.