Do simulations prepare you for the real thing?

[rrick31]

yes i think so,i used to real race 7 years ago,and that was before the pc boom and back then they told us (older guys) to play more video games to be able to keep up with the younger drivers,i currently race DTR and DTRSC on the pc,and can see some big benefits,setting up the car,and my mistakes and habits that i have corrected.where if i where still real racing.i could be correcting some mistakes.
Rick31

[CtrlCXV]

I agree with what you are saying but I must add that in order for this to work the sims have to be good. I mean I can race all day long with need for speed but that will mean nothing when I sit in a real car.
I think that sims are a great asset to the learning experiance, and can save a lot of time and money as well as safe guard against certain accidents that rookies can make in the real world, but nothing beats good old hands on experiance. There are situations out there that only it can prepare you for.
Over all I say sims are a good teaching tool, but become great with real world hands on experiance.

[jadison]

I've been using flight sims since about 1990, on the PC, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega 32X, and a few of the other newer game consoles, and some of it does help. I believe though, in order for these SIMS to provide true help, they need to be very accurate, and the setup on your system has to be as similar as possible, ie. use a steering wheel, or joystick, pedals, have a surround sound system, large clear monitor, and if possible dual monitors. I say this because you want to be as close to the real thing as possible...if all u have is some 15" monitor and a cheesy game pad, that won't even close to being in the cockpit of a real plane.
I've flone several planes from 2-seaters to private jets, and I have to agree with CtrlCXV, that there's nothin like the real thing, baby!

my thoughts...

-=jd=-

[CMonster]

In the future I could easily see a "simulator" driver's license test that did not require the traditional written + road test. This 15-20 minute simulation could be quite intense, requiring the driver to safely reach a destination by reading of street/traffic signs, responding to emergency vehicles, and navigating through "real world" situations that would be unsafe to reproduce otherwise. Grading would occur instantly and be totally impartial.