5W0P3

So i've read alot in the forum lately, and i'm going to be doing my first real autocrossing event in my car on sunday coming up (10/22). And the i started playing Gran Turismo 4 on my play station. I turned all of the driving handicaps off, such as traction control and their "active handling" i guess is what they have. Anyway, based on what i've read here, i'm a much better driver on the game. Anyone else do this just for practice?

Lancer033

As far as real world benefit, the only thing I can see it being good for is teaching general car control concepts. You'll have to learn them all over again in a real car, but at least you've for some idea of what's going on. Other than that, if you're going to one of the tracks they've got on the game, it can help you learn the layout. What ever you do, don't show up and think "I can drive x:xx.xxx time on GT4 so I should be able to do it here" or "I can take this turn at xxmph in the game, so I'll try it in real life"

5W0P3

lol no i wouldn't do that lol. I just think its funny how reading how to take corners and the line of the track is benefiting me playing playstation

Gary04Z06

A lot of pro drivers play to get familer with the track layout.

Rob Burgoon

Im not sure how much playing the game helped me for the track, you can put slippery tires on the car in the game, but it makes the car hard to drive and you dont have your butt in the seat to help you.

Ill tell you what though.. after spending some time at the track, I got WAY better at the game. You can really eat the competition for breakfast in weaker cars if you can get your corner exit speeds up. (just like real life maybe?)


Also, one thing that bugs me about GT4's model is that trail braking doesnt seem to rotate the car quite like I can in my real life miata....

Also, GT4 abstracts away ABS and lockup. Thats kind of annoying.

AUTO_X_AL

I play Forza on my X-box and some of the tracks are real close and the car in my game has the same spring rate and alignment as my real car. I just wish there were more tracks that I actually go to. The only track I have been to was road america and it was in a Z3. But i like the same lines in the game as I did in life so I think there is a little something that you can take away from it. It's better than nothing that is for sure. Dont interpret video game dynamics to real life becuase that could be a bit hairy!

AU N EGL

I knew one guy who drove Road Atlanta quite a bit. Said he could do consistant 1:29 laps.

I mentioned that was impressive, very impressive. Then I said I would like to see something like that and asked what event he was signed up for next?

He said, "No event I do on Grant Turismo."

When he finally signed up for his event in his subaru STI, we mentiond if you hit a wall you DONT get a second chance.

Funny part is he never broke 2:00 min laps.

Lancer033

I run < 8:00s at the Nurburging on the X-box in a C5 Z06. In real life I run about 9:00

BBQ

I wish a video game would have Sebring.

AU N EGL

Sebring? <PERK>

LGM - Round 1 of Speed World Challange 2006

http://www.lgmracing.com/lgm-0601-sebring2.wm

5W0P3

Fixed

Lancer033

Sports Car GT
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/driving/s...rgt/index.html

it's a little old, but the game was very good

xsiveone

It's because in real life you don't have a reset button.

AU N EGL

Or an EASY BUTTON.

AUTO_X_AL

It's alot easier to drive in too deep to a corner if you dont actually have to pay for or repair it yourself!! I can turn a 1:26-1:27 range at Road Atl in my Zo6 in Forza. Again it's alot easier to have a pair running into a corner at 165 Mph in a video game!!

Slalom4me

Your question is timely for me, I have been planning to post to
ask whether there are any new & worthy titles on the market
since the last time I'd seen threads on driving simulation games.

I did pretty well at collecting copies of the PC-based releases that
were most favoured back then. I also registered a copy of rFactor.
I don't have Playstation or X-Box so I have no experience with titles
written for those platforms.

While I didn't discover a game with an autocross circuit, Richard Burns
Rally has a training segment that is kind of like A/X (but don't buy
it just for this, you need to be into Rallying and enjoy the game for
its intended purpose.)

Driving Games for the PC

Motorsports (racing) video game preview (Video Inside)

Are there shortcomings? - yes. Does gaming make me a better
driver? - I don't know. Is it fun - yes. At the root of it, I feel that
the attempts at proper simulation have value, others like Need
for Speed and so on are just entertainment. I agree with those
who feel that just navigating an accurate representation of a
track has to help prepare for making a run.

I wish there was a reasonably priced, more realistic control set.
I considered bidding on some of the coveted original Momo sets.
I looked at the high end set (from ?). Still using a Logictech
WingMan Formula Force GT.

.

AUTO_X_AL

Forza actually has a dozen or so autocross tracks with varying degrees of difficulty and length. Although is it 5 seconds for a Cone!!

Slalom4me

When I went back through the 06/05 thread linked above, I was
reminded of this following evaluation of platforms

Looks like I might need to pick up a copy of Forza and see whether
I can get some time on a friend's X-Box system to decide whether I
want to go this direction myself. I'd also like to try Gran Turismo
and Enthusia on PS-2.

Skant mentions that GTR on the PC is the competion to GT on PS-2.
I have GTR and in my opinion, rFactor is right up there, too. (I'm not a
hardcore gamer, though, so YMMV.) I'll be interested to see how
the interactive experiences on the different platforms stacks up.

.

talon95

There's GTR2 for the PC now too. I've messed with a bit, one of the better PC racing sims I've played.

Dave G.

Drew M

i wish a game would have lime rock, but thats a local track so its doubtful itll ever happen.