Driving Games Increase Real World Crashes

Boffins claim that playing video games makes you a bad driver. The latest in a long – and frankly tedious – line of shock horror research aimed at maximum publicity in the media and thus generating more cash for further pointless research, reveals that people playing driving games are more likely to take risks on the road in real life.

Naturally, this elicits the usual hand-wringing from pressure groups seeking a blanket speed limit of 15mph in order to prevent the carnage on our roads. The British School of Motoring is even calling for a pop up on driving games warning of the risk.

the Inquirer - Driving games are too good for their own good

German researchers reckon that playing computer driving games encourages people men to take more risks when driving in the real world. Researchers carried out three studies using three racing games - Burnout, Midnight Racer, Need for Speed - and three non-racing control games - Tak, Crash Bandicoot and Fifa 2005. All games were played on a Sony PlayStation 2 using a 72in TV screen. One study also used Medal of Honour to see if a violent shoot ‘em-up would have the same effect.

The evidence suggests, with some reservations, that playing aggressive driving games does change how people look at risky behaviour.

The Register - Racing games increase real world crashes