Driving School Game?

[Chris]

Hi there, I'm searching for something like a driving simulation. I've watched my young nephew playing around with a plastic wheel, pretending to drive a car.

He's pretty yound and hasn't played a game before, so I'm lookig for a more sedate and easygoing experience, where you can just drive around freely (preferrably through a city/ not on a race track), without worrying about time limits or winning a race -> something like a driving simulation would be ace.

All the things that came to mind (GTA, Carmageddon) are a bit too violent..

Any ideas?

[Jimid2]

My daughters started with Ridge Racer just on time trials - three laps and you can take as long as you like to do them. They both enjoyed this to no end when they were 4 and 5 years old... They've since graduated to Crazy Taxi and Burnout, which is a little unnerving, as they are 16 this year...

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Try the original Driver for PS1... and maybe Driver 2 (although I haven't played that one). Its not really that violent, and was one of my favorite PS1 games.

[sisko]

Test Drive Unlimited springs immediately to mind. Race or don't. Drive on roads, or don't.

The map is to scale of Oahu (I think). Pretty fun to race, pretty fun to explore.

[Chris]

@sisko: Wow, this looks awesome, prob is I don't have a 360, my PC is antique and the PS2 version lacks steering wheel support, but I guess I'll still try it.

Are the earlier Test Drive titles similar in nature?
btw: low poly animal thingy lol


@others: Thx, some really good suggestions. I guess checking the time trial modes might be a good idea.
How about steering wheel support in those titles?

[Coldguy]

Hi there, I'm searching for something like a driving simulation. I've watched my young nephew playing around with a plastic wheel, pretending to drive a car.

He's pretty yound and hasn't played a game before, so I'm lookig for a more sedate and easygoing experience, where you can just drive around freely (preferrably through a city/ not on a race track), without worrying about time limits or winning a race -> something like a driving simulation would be ace.

All the things that came to mind (GTA, Carmageddon) are a bit too violent..

Any ideas?

I would have to go with outrun on the sega ages collection, with the steering whell controller. Racing against time instead of competitors, and more importaintly has numerous turns and curves to practice steering.

[InsaneDavid]

Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero for the PS2, long stretches of continuous freeway with technical sections here and there, cars to race if you'd like, etc. It'll also only run you a couple bucks these days and fully supports the GT Force wheels (one of the first games that did, even before Gran Turismo 3 was released).

[Push Upstairs]

All the things that came to mind (GTA, Carmageddon) are a bit too violent..

GTA (at least Vice City) was very, very basic when it comes to simulation of driving.


I'd say the one real problem with simulators is that they cannot replicate inertia while taking turns. In an actual car you can tell when you gotta lay off the gas and slow down, but in driving games it always seems like "turning, turning, whoops into the grass!"

[jwm2]

Project Gotham Racing and Test Drive Unlimited are the 2 that seem like they'd be good driving sims to me.

[FantasiaWHT]

I'd say the one real problem with simulators is that they cannot replicate inertia while taking turns. In an actual car you can tell when you gotta lay off the gas and slow down, but in driving games it always seems like "turning, turning, whoops into the grass!"

Don't the Logitech force feedback wheels counteract that somewhat? I thought they would "fight" you as inertia in a turn pulls you out of your turn.

[Greg2600]

Ford Motor Company had several Simulation games.

http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/...mulator-series

[jwm2]

Eww, i didn't like the ford simulators very much. The old test drives are much better imo.

[Fuzzball24]

I was gonna recommend GT. That has a driving school.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The Midnight Club games all have "free drive" practice type modes with no time limits and no goals. You're free to explore the cities and do whatever you please with your car.

And while they have a decidely urban flavor, none of them are "violent".

Your nephew could enjoy driving around NY, London, LA, Tokyo, or any of the other cities that they feature in those games, and I'm pretty sure that all of them on PS2 support BASIC PS2 steering-wheel controllers.

Also, all three of the games can be purchased for less than $20 each used, or about that new.

[Sothy]

I find Twisted metal to be a very accurate simulation of a realistic driving experience.

[DeputyMoniker]

btw: low poly animal thingy lol