S2000 Owner Credits Gaming for Saving Him From Crash
Can playing Gran Turismo really make you a better driver in real life? At least one S2000 owner thinks so.
Gaming Saved Him
For many years now, many people have claimed that playing video games has given them better motor reflexes or driving ability. And many others laughed at them (us), dismissing gaming as nothing more than a silly hobby. So we found it interesting when a Reddit user by the name of disgruntledempanada recently claimed on the site that Gran Turismo, a game we're all quite familiar with, saved him from a horrific crash.
Photos: S2Ki Forums
Close Call
The poster in question also just so happens to own an S2000, which obviously piqued our interest even further. As his story goes, he was headed out to meet his family for lunch with his girlfriend in tow when disaster nearly struck. "A mile from my house, we're heading through an intersection, the yellow light flashes with seemingly plenty of time, and the person in the oncoming turning lane assumes we were going to stop and guns it, turning right in front of us. We were absolutely about to hit them head-on."
Photos: S2Ki Forums
Instinctual Moves
Thankfully, that didn't happen, as the OP explained further. "Thousands of hours of sim-racing-honed-instinct kicked in and without even thinking, I had slammed on the brakes, swerved into the thankfully empty oncoming lane, swerved again to avoid the curb, caught the tiny bit of snap oversteer that resulted from essentially doing a Scandinavian flick, veered around the cars in the turning lane back into my lane to avoid an oncoming car, and then... shock."
Photos: S2Ki Forums
Translating Skills
So can we credit this to video games? At least the OP's girlfriend did. "We were both silent for like 30 seconds and then she broke that silence with 'I guess all those hours of playing that car game was practice for that.' I seriously thought we were gonna die. As the shock faded my wrist started hurting worse and worse but it's feeling better today. Really we were just super lucky the oncoming lane was empty and I had somewhere to go. Absolutely terrifying. Additionally, if I was in my other car, there was no way we would have avoided that wreck."
Photos: S2Ki Forums
Giving Credit
So perhaps we can give the S2000 some credit for this save as well. And it's true that most people would have simply slammed on the brakes had they been faced with the same impending scenario. But the OP, in this case, knew that there was no way he could stop in time.
Photos: S2Ki Forums
Adding to the Story
Interestingly, quite a few other Redditors also shared their very similar stories in response to this post. They certainly believe that playing driving video games has helped hone their skills in real-life situations, so who are we to argue with that logic?
Photos: S2Ki Forums
Developing Skils
Many of us essentially learned how to drive by playing video games, in a sense. And while there are plenty of people out there that will tell us we're crazy, we can see an obvious benefit from doing so. But of course, driving a car as responsive as the S2000 doesn't hurt, either.
Photos: S2Ki Forums