Video Games Vs Real Drifting

[jimmy1300]

well im new here and since its easier to just ask you this, than search. i want to know how video games like gran turismo and initial d compare to real life driving and more specifically drifting.

so how is the new initial d 3 compared to drifting, is it somewhat close and how is the gran turismo series when it comes to how a car might feel on the road. i mean its not the exact same thing obviously, but are they pretty decent references, if you wanted to kinda test out a theory before you actually go out and do it.

[Adam Barker]

Its kinda funny, the dudes at GT said they never intended to make cars "drift" in their game, they just made the cars so real that the cars would drift if done correctly. Thats why every other game sucks when it comes to drifting, they try to hard to make it a drift game, so the driving becomes lame.

But most importantly, video games arent real. There is no consequences. Its a horrible comparison to ever make, or a way to "test a theory". They are both however, very fun to do.

[requiredoption]

No. No video game accounts for changes in road surface, bad drivers, animals, debris, on and off camber turns ect. ect. No video game allows you to feel the wheightlessness or the g forces. And while your hella mad tyte dorifto 240sx might handle "perfectly" in a video game, I assure you, you wont be thinking that when your doing an emergency stop on a wet freeway.

And I'm not quite sure what you mean about testing theorys. Most, if not all videogames are set up to let the driver do well in a race. Playing a video game, and then going out and running on a mountain thinking that you know how to do it would almost always end in disaster. First the perspective is all distorted, 25 miles an hour looks like alot less in a video game than when your actually comming up to a hairpin with a mountain on one side and a cliff on the other. Second, you can seemingly bug the hell out of a chassis in a video game and still be fine, while when your out on the road pushing a car, lifting the throttle seems to end a lot of peoples fun/lives.

Theres nothing that can train you to operate a car other than doing it. Theres nothing that can teach you how to set up/build a car other than doing it.

You can read as many publications as you wish, or play as many videogames, but, you'll never be able to keep up with people who've gone out and actually done it.

[jimmy1300]

okay. i was just curious about it, since games like gran turismo are supposed to be so real like, but like i said, i didnt expect to be able to do what i do in a video game on th road, but just as a rough reference, like when it comes to suspension tuning, gear ratios and braking and stuff.

[Valkyrie]

Games can only be real-ish, not truely realistic.

Realistic would be like a flight simulator for an airline pilot: basically everything is simulated (controls, g-forces, etc).

Even military fighter pilot simulators aren't as realistic when it comes to sensations as airliner simulators (well, you can't really simulate 9g's with hydraulics, so I guess they don't bother to try).

[DRIFTER-M]

Originally posted by Adam Barker
Its kinda funny, the dudes at GT said they never intended to make cars "drift" in their game, they just made the cars so real that the cars would drift if done correctly. Thats why every other game sucks when it comes to drifting, they try to hard to make it a drift game, so the driving becomes lame.

But most importantly, video games arent real. There is no consequences. Its a horrible comparison to ever make, or a way to "test a theory". They are both however, very fun to do.

If GT was never intended to drift, why in the older ones could you pick a setup called "drift"???
Not trying to start flamming but the intended it.

[solex]

i think at least games like underground are spreading the drifting fever,, even if they have it all wrong and have the track wayyyyy to slippery. its exposure for the sport, even if it is wrong

[jaydm180sx]

Originally posted by DRIFTER-M
If GT was never intended to drift, why in the older ones could you pick a setup called "drift"???
Not trying to start flamming but the intended it.

The "drift" setting was just a way to quickly change you car setup in arcade mode.
You couldnt just select it and get extreme angles though, it was just a minor adjustment for driver preferance. Some drivers prefer the rear to slide out a little during corners.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Nothing alike. Especially the 140mph slides. LOL

[Parry]

Originally posted by CrazyHawaiian
Nothing alike. Especially the 140mph slides. LOL

pffft CH you aint' slidin at 140 mph?

Man if I ain't goin at least a buck forty I ain't even movin!

[malcolm]

personally, I believe that gran turismo is VERY realistic. So far I've driven, either on an auto-x or on an actual racing circuit, 9 or ten cars that are in the game. ALL of them are accurately modelled. The following are some cars in the game that I've driven, and the traits that I found were accurately represented in the various GT's.

Corvette C5 - surprisingly controllable in a drift. easy to steer with the throttle and without wings, it will happily oversteer.

Toyota MR2 (AW11, in GT2 only) - quick turn in, rather twitchy, and VERY twitchy under braking. If you downshift too early, it will snap sideways on you. The AW11 was my first ever racing car, and when I started out, it bit me in the *Censored**Censored**Censored* a few times under braking. Going into the hairpin on Midfield Raceway, it always seems to exhibit the same trait. Fun car, both in the game and real life because of the challenge of driving it fast.

Turbo FC - when set up softly, it likes to have a harsh turn in to make the car take a set, and then get in the throttle hard to steer the car through the corner. Stiff or soft, seems to react quite well to left-foot-braking on slower corners.

Honda S2000 - surprisingly stiff for a road car, and even stock, it handles really well. even a small amount of trail braking, if you aren't careful, will lead to a huge drift...

CRX - pushes too much on throttle, but turns in well.

Porsche 911 (not a RUF, but the basic physics are the same) - Off throttle oversteer. that's all I have to say.

AE86 (full race spec) - well balanced, seems neutral up to and slightly over the limit, and reacts well to steering inputs.

Formula car (not an F1 car, but the basics still apply) - very precise, and when you turn into a corner and are a little over the limit, it snaps out quickly, but it is easily catchable because of the quickness of the steering.

I think there might be one or two more somewhere along the line, but that's all I can remember. Still, each car was accurately represented, quirks and all.

Even basic driving styles have the same general effect on the car. If you trailbrake, it induces oversteer. You can transition the weight effectively to initiate a drift. You can even let off the throttle mid-corner to eliminate understeer and even induce oversteer (called dynamic drifting in the Drift Bible).

The only bad part is that it has ruined every other racing game for me. I can't play anything now without thinking how poor it is compared to Gran Turismo... In my opinion, it's just that good.

[ShAkE DoWn]

Besides the real life situations like G-force, debris, camber, etc...I think the steering would be the BIG difference(talking about GT). On an analog, the steering is to quick. Turn left all the way on the stick and it turns left all the way in the game(duh factor) vs. turning a steer wheel in real life around 2 times to get to the left. So, there's a time difference. I know the GT4 Logitech steering wheel can simulate this. From what I experience from it, it does a good job. And all the drifting in Initial D arcade games is just understeer...

[Valkyrie]

I played GT4 with the new 900-degree steering wheel (sitting in a Sparco bucket seat, no less.. lol) in an electronics store.

I'd say it's about as close to real as you can get on a console, steering wheel-wise. Obviously, the wheel itself is still waaaay smaller than a real wheel (where as the Initial D arcade wheel is only slightly smaller, maybe an inch or so diameter-wise).

As for the accuracy... for example, if you're driving down a straight, you can barely move the wheel at all (only a few degrees), and it's very loose. I think this is supposed to simulate... well, either the car is restricting your steering wheel due to speed (which some cars do, don't they?), or it's keeping you from spinning out at high-speed.

Now when you turn, for a medium turn, you only have to use part of your steering angle, but for a slower one, you probably will have to pass the wheel.

The force feedback on this wheel, and even the normal GT wheel is really neat. Like if you go into a turn, it puts pressure in all the right places due to different ways you try to steer, etc.

In other words... it's neat all around. But still expensive.


I have to disagree with you Shakedown. In the Initial D arcade game, what MOST of the cars do is oversteer (although some of them will exhibit understeer or they won't want to break the back end free). This can make it easier to get around corners too... And it usually does require some sort of counter-steer to keep the car pointed where you want it.

[ShAkE DoWn]

Point taken Valkyrie, but I've seen a guy try to counter, but his car was going so fast it was just pointless. He just wall rided the rail. And what the hell w/ crashing into a wall head on and keeping a constant velocity?! In the real world we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

[Valkyrie]

Few games require that you do a full-on consant counter-steer while drifting, and if you ever have to do that, it means you're probably going to spin out (like Kaido Battle 2.. you either barely have to counter since you're not slipping very much, or you have to hold the stick all the way in "opposite lock" or you're going to wipe out).

Initial D's "counter steer" is usually just snapping the wheel back into place (right at the end of the turn) to keep going straight rather than full-on counter during drift. But I have had to do serious counter when the car looses grip badly (which depending on the car seems to randomly happen rather than for any real reason).

And you will slow down if you hit the walls (if you just smack the guard rail a little you won't slow down very much, but it'll make a difference in your course time)... that guy might have just been really lucky or something.