Re: Racing games 'breed' bad driversOn Mar 19, 2:52 pm, "Alan Bernardo" <pol...@yalta,com > wrote:
> <pdot...@mindspring,com > wrote in message
>
> > One thing I find when I put kids on my racing simulator - especially
> > kids who have only played NFS-type games, is that they have no concept
> > of having to slow down for a turn. They think you can just go full-
> > throttle all the time. I doubt very many would take this attitude
> > into real life driving, but some probably would.
>
> It's BS to think that kids-- no matter how stupid-- would actually think
> that sim driving habits would transfer over to real driving success (i.e.,
> no accidents, etc.).
>
> Sounds to me like someone is making some wild claims in order to get people
> to read something.
I agree with the wild claims part. The story is a bunch of BS.
But...
Not sure if your first comments were directed at my response at all.
I can give you a concrete personal example on this very topic: Last
year I bought a Yamaha TTR 90 trail bike for my kids to ride. The
bike has three forward gears. It was a big deal for my kids when I
let them switch to the next higher gear as they got used to riding.
Our first time out at a riding area my 13 year old step daughter was
begging to go into third gear. Well, going fast is easy, just turn
the throttle. It's slowing down that is harder. At the end of the
longest straight was a 90 degree left turn. If you miss the turn you
go straight into the woods. Not 10 minutes went by after telling her
'NO' to third gear when she went screaming past us in third gear
heading straight for the trees. She went way too deep and had no idea
how to get the bike slowed down at that point. Luckily, she grabbed a
handful of front brake and the front wheel washed out. She went down
before getting to the turn.
All this excitement was followed by a trip to the emergency room to
confirm a broken collar bone. She/We got off easy!
The point being, she thought I was an idiot for thinking that she
wasn't capable of going faster. She had no appreciation for the
consequences. That'll teach her :)
I don't know how old you are Alan, or if you have kids, but there is
no telling what kind of stupid crap they will pull no matter how much
they are warned and taught. I let my kids play NFS on the XBox. No
big deal to me. The best thing you can do is let them get some
experience on a motorized vehicle, be it a motorcycle, karts, or
whatever, before they ever hit the streets in a car.
Pat Dotson