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I’ve never got racing simulators.
They’reclearly just controllers, and no amount of haptics has ever persuaded me otherwise.
I’m not a big fan of cars, either.
But recently, my perspective changed.
Then I graduated to my mum’s cheap hatchback, which was slightly newer but quite grim to drive.
The clutch is absurdly high for some reason, which made every trip into a chore.
This car is much more modern; it has fancy things like power steering and automatic windows.
And boy, is it smooth to drive.
Now this is driving, I think to myself on long trips.
But it still doesn’t feel like video game driving.
The gearstick emits a satisfying clunk when you put it into position.
you could feel the hum of the engine when you press on the accelerator, however gently.
Racing sims have none of that.
Flooring the accelerator feels like pushing a button that makes the pixels show you the effect of going faster.
No amount of fake understeer accurately feels like taking a tight turn a little too fast.
Every gearbox peripheral feels too smooth, too fake.
This is why my driving games have been restricted primarily to arcade titles.
Burnout Paradise, Mario Kart: Double Dash!
!, you know the drill.
Games where I can purposefully crash into cops or throw banana skins at my fellow drivers.
If the driving doesnt feel real, then I want it to bereallyunreal.
A Change Of Direction
But Ive seen the light.
I understand what racing sims are going for.
And all it took was driving a fancy(ish) car on holiday.
This is why Ive described the car as fancy(ish).
While it was (thankfully) a manual gearbox, everything else was automatic.
The wing mirrors whir inwards when you lock the car.
The headlights detect the light levels and respond with the appropriate brightness.
The windscreen wipers know how much rain is on your windscreen and automatically wipe.
It all seems glorious and technologically impressive, but the actual driving weirded me out a little.
When I pushed the accelerator, I couldnt feel the engine beneath my toes.
The gearstick moved so smoothly I wasnt sure it was even in gear.
Even the speedometer was digital, robbing me of any semblance of tactile feedback from my driving.
Ill be honest, I didnt really like it.
Everything felt like I was pressing a button that told the cars computer to do the thing.
Nothing felt like I was driving, and that was disconcerting.
But it felt exactly like I was playing a video game.
At that moment, I got what all the fancy peripherals were going for.
Where Id thought they were failing to accurately recreate the driving experience, this is whatnicecars actually feel like.
I was only driving a $40,000 car, but thats nearly ten times what my car cost me.
But Ive got just the thing to simulate that.
When I got home, I immediately dug out my pedals, steering wheel, and gearbox.
Ive done some laps of Silverstone in a DBS.
Ive taken to the winding roads of Scotland in a Rolls Royce.
When I take to the real roads, Ill stick with the tactile, fuel conserving, hatchback.
