Automotive stats: are people divorced from reality?

[widebody911]

Several times in the past few months, I've been engaged in a light conversation with someone, usually about my 911 or race cars in general, and one of these rocket scientists will come up with something like "So what's this have, 700hp?" No, it's only 280 or so. "Oh, well in Gran Turismo..." or "Have you seen the new Corvette? They have 800hp!" What? There's no way they have that much "Well, in (racing game here)..."

WTF? Have Motor Trend, Car and Driver, et al been replaced by Xbox and Playstation?

I've found that you can't argue the point; the video game is the ultimate authority of specs. And these aren't just kids. A couple of these rubes were late 20's.

Maybe I'm just old and cranky.

[Z-man]

Thom:
Well, you ARE olda nd cranky, but that's not important right now.

As an avid DE / autocrosser and occasional video racing gamer, here's my $0.42:

Video games are slowing taking over reality, or so it seems. I think the big problem is that most people (kids and adults alike) that play video games don't have any real world experience - they've only driven a car to its limits (and beyond) on a video game. Thus, their perception of performance cars and performance driving is rather tainted.

In a video game, all it takes is a 'click here' and a 'click there' to tune your suspension and add 500 hp of power to a car.

In terms of making a car simulator where the sim actually reflects true car dynamics - those games would be very difficult to play, and as such, it wouldn't sell too well. So games are toned down quite a bit to make them more 'playable.' That applies even to GT-3, which many have stated is the 'most realistic' car driving sim out there. (I disagree).

That said, IMHO, the PC-based Need for Speed series of games seems to have the best representation of cars and physics out there. Especially the Porsche Unleashed version. Still not the most accurate, but if you're running on a skid pad in NFS-PU, and happen to lift off the throttle, your car's rear will come around for sure. In GT-3, I've tried to induce oversteer on a skid pad in the wet, with a Vette travelling at around 80mph, and the car just stays planted, despite lifting, hitting the brakes, and even yanking the 'virtual handbrake.' Completely unrealistic.

The scariest aspect of this is when you get one of these video game experts out there on a real track. When the real laws of physics take over, the 'reset' button quickly becomes the 'fix sheetmetal' repair bill!

Sorry for rambling,
-Z-man.

[pwd72s]

True but funny...I once had a guy in his 20's tell me all about he "driving" a 427 Cobra in a race. Then it dawned on me...video games.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Video games? What a waste of time.

Kids should go play outside.

[Stanley]

Z-man ~In GT3 have you tired messing with the options to give you relistic results. You can change the tires and steering to a simulation mode- it makes the cars very hard to control- much like real life.

BTW- GT4 has be delayed until Q1 2005.

[rcecale]

I'm not sure it's limited to just video games.

My brother came to visit and was all excited at the prospect of being able to drive my vette or my p-car. You should have seen the look on his face....ear to ear grinning and all.

Well you probably should have seen the look on mine when he told me that he "knew how to drive" because he "watches NASCAR". YIKES!

Needless to say, when he left to go back home to Michigan, he was just a tad disappointed that he ended up driving NEITHER!

Randy

[M.D. Holloway]

had a gamer take my little 2.7 for a run - he has a 300+hp chevelle. When I told him mine was about 168hp on a good day he said "Oh, well at least it looks cool." We took her out, I punched her a little bit more than normal - let him have a go - he ground a few gears (mostly third), then started to get the hang of it it keep repeating "Dang! This thing is quick! Drives on rails! - I could used to this, this has way more than 168hp"! No - it's just 1000 lbs lighter than the 69 chevelle with a million pound engine and transmission!

[turbo6bar]

I hear ya, luber. I had to grease the PolyBronze bushings on the a-arms the other day. I noticed the gas tank can't be more than 5" off the ground. Das ist gut! The handling is so crazy good.

[CJFusco]

Lube, that is exactly it... people look at the HP number and completely ignore the vehicle weight. What car magazines SHOULD start doing is calculating the power-to-weight ratio. HP alone doesn't give the full story. Look at the Elise!

I heard somewhere that every 15 pounds of car weight is worth about 1 rwhp. Anyone know if this is accurate?

Sure almost every $25K+ sedan on the market has over 200HP now, but I would be willing to bet they weigh a tad more than my 2670lb Porsche.