The virtual and physical are still ”very different” adding you can’t ”feel the weight distribution” essential for steering in the sims. It’s ”extremely different” for most.
Racing pro John Boston said the Test Drive Unlimited is ”very similar” to a ”real car”, but adds right after, “Of course, you have to say that.” Software can only go so far.
“I’ve been thrown into a couple of simulators over the time, but they’re still all very different to a car,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it. Just with the way they behave – especially with the steering side. You really can’t feel the weight distribution.”
”I’ve found a lot of people that play games, they come and drive cars and they find it extremely different,” he continued. The added hand-eye co-ordination ”is a bonus, but it’s just the controls and everything are just a little bit different.”
“One of the main things is just the sudden change of direction,” he noted, “like if you change the direction too suddenly in the game the car might slide, but normally it’s not sliding as much as what a real car would.”
“People aren’t smooth enough when they get into a real life car.” The genre of racing simulators is at least ”certainly improving, every day.” Test Drive Unlimited 2 releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC February 9th in the US, and on the 11th in Europe.