If anyone has ever told you that gaming is a total waste of time, refer them to this article. As it turns out, playing racing games can actually improve your driving skills in real life. That’s why professional racing drivers use them between races. This article will take a look at some of the skills that transfer over to real life. Here’s how racing games improve your driving skills.
Probably the most obvious transferable skill from racing games is hand-eye coordination. This is simply the ability to do things that require our hands and eyes to work together. Honestly, any game will improve your hand-eye coordination but, when it comes to driving, it’s slightly more obvious. Playing a realistic racing game (like Gran Turismo Prologue) requires you to steer and brake with precision. Any sudden movements and your car will go flying off the track.
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A good driver will have at least some understanding of their vehicle. From tire pressure to brake cooling, racing drivers are always thinking about their cars so that they can get the most out of them. Racing games will give you better technical car knowledge, which will translate well to actual driving. Much like professional poker players practice their strategies online in a play now casino, or how athletes train before a big event, professional drivers practice in racing games to learn the layout of a racing track and figure out the best racing line.
Everyone has that one friend with scratches on every panel of their car. Well, perhaps they should have played more racing games. Spatial awareness is one of the most crucial skills on the road. It allows you to maneuver your vehicle (which is much bigger than you) through gaps. Some people are born with it, and some people develop it through years of playing racing games.
These days, racing games are super realistic. That’s why professional racing drivers use them to practice. Of course, nothing can perfectly recreate the feeling of going 200mph in an F1 car, but they get closer all the time. The cars in racing games are programmed to react the same way as a real car would. That means you have to learn proper car control – feathering the brakes, precision steering, and accelerating through corners. Of course, you’re not going to be racing on the roads, but you’ll be better prepared for emergency situations.
Motorcyclists are experts at defensive driving. They are always on the lookout for potential dangers because they’re going to come off worse in an accident nine times out of ten. The same goes for racing drivers. They are hyper-aware of potential dangers because any crash could be fatal. Playing racing games will teach you how to drive defensively, which will transfer to your real-life driving style.
Many cars are automatic nowadays. But if you’re still driving a stick shift, playing racing games will help you improve your shifting. You will learn how to shift on the red line for maximum speed, how to downshift to slow the car down without braking, and more. In a normal driving situation, you won’t be changing gears in the same way, but a better knowledge of gearing will improve your driving.
