The Student Room Group

Driving Simulator

I've looked around for a true-to-life driving simulator for some time now, and as yet, have come up with absolutely nothing. What I'm looking for is a software/game (for the PC) where I can practise civilian driving techniques as I don't have a car to go out to practise with on the road. I know there are games like GTA, Live for Speed and rFactor, however I wonder if anybody knows of a piece of software that uses all the controls of a real car (steering, clutch, brake, accelerator, etc.) and is based on civilian driving??

Please help. :redface:

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Reply 1
Some driving schools have them, but they can be slightly pricey and they don't really teach you very much. I used a BSM thing for an hour and it was totally crap. Also, the kit you'd need to buy to make your PC have the same controls as a real car would cost about as much as a proper one.
Reply 2
I don't know about you, but I find Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a remarkably accurate simulation of my driving skillz.
Definitely, my drive-bys are spot on these days.
I don't think GTA would meet my exacting requirements - it doesn't allow clutch+gear shifting, as far as I can recall. :confused:

rFactor seems to be my best bet using a small-engine, FWD car. :s-smilie:
Reply 5
If you want to practice 'civilian driving techniques', get a real car. Games are supposed to be fun.
Reply 6
There is a game at the Southsea Pier Amusement Arcades, that has the clutch, steering wheel, and brakes etc.. for driving.

I can't remember what the name of the game/sim was, but im sure there is one near you in an Arcade park..

Was quite useful, even if it was like £1 a go. Cheaper then buying all the equipment for the pc.
Fields
If you want to practice 'civilian driving techniques', get a real car. Games are supposed to be fun.


I would consider driving in that sense to be fun, but maybe that's just me. What I'm probably looking for more is something that I can practise this side of driving as well as realistic racing (I'm guessing no such game exsists, but I've seen a few as I search that come close).

Getting a real car would just be too expensive to run and not worth the money as I'm going off to university in September at which point I'll have no use for it.
Reply 8
Captain Biggles
I would consider driving in that sense to be fun, but maybe that's just me. What I'm probably looking for more is something that I can practise this side of driving as well as realistic racing (I'm guessing no such game exsists, but I've seen a few as I search that come close).

Getting a real car would just be too expensive to run and not worth the money as I'm going off to university in September at which point I'll have no use for it.

gran turismo

dunno if it's on the pc tho.

certainly doesn't have manual clutch control... but pros use it to practice on tracks before they go there irl, so it's pretty close to real life so far as the physics of the car is concerned
Reply 9
I know of a perfect driving simulator for you. It even has clutch control i.e. a fully manual gear box.

It's called rigs of rods. It's totally free, the graphics aren't the best, but it's quite realistic. Download it from here.

You can also play online i.e. multiplayer, and whoever plays online is really careful about their driving....i.e. if you take a bus out, you sort of try and play properly, none of this crashing and speeding business. It's meant to be a simulator.

The official site: rigsofrods.com

p.s. the servers are a bit buggy at the moment, so your game may crash in multiplayer, but singleplayer is really good anyway.
Reply 10
Live for Speed has it all. You can get real world setups for the cars to make them drive in a road like manner and all of your car's key controls are there (clutch, brake, accelerator, manual gears, steering ^_^, indicators and warning lights). May even be able to sort out some kind of road like map.

You will need a decent wheel/gears/pedal set and some tweaking of the settings (changing from default auto-clutch to manual and the likes) in LFS, check on their forum I'm sure people there can advise.
alanmcg
Live for Speed has it all. You can get real world setups for the cars to make them drive in a road like manner and all of your car's key controls are there (clutch, brake, accelerator, manual gears, steering ^_^, indicators and warning lights). May even be able to sort out some kind of road like map.

You will need a decent wheel/gears/pedal set and some tweaking of the settings (changing from default auto-clutch to manual and the likes) in LFS, check on their forum I'm sure people there can advise.


I'm thinking about going for the Logitech G25 steering wheel so I think that should fall under the category of "decent". :p: I've seen LFS and rFactor as two very viable options - anything you can say that would push me one way or another?
Reply 12
Captain Biggles, Ive Been Desperately Doing The Same, i want the Logitech G25, and a good game to help, with full clutch control, gear changes, junctions, traffic lights etc
Reakesie
Captain Biggles, Ive Been Desperately Doing The Same, i want the Logitech G25, and a good game to help, with full clutch control, gear changes, junctions, traffic lights etc


Exactly. Looks like I'm going to have to use rFactor or LFS - but I'm not even sure I'm going to be able to afford it!! :frown:
Reply 14
Captain Biggles
Exactly. Looks like I'm going to have to use rFactor or LFS - but I'm not even sure I'm going to be able to afford it!! :frown:


The Game or The Logitech G25?? the G25 is pure class, i dream of Test Drive coming from the Xbox to the pc, you can really take it proper on that, but the clutch control on Live For Speed Is awesome
Reakesie
The Game or The Logitech G25?? the G25 is pure class, i dream of Test Drive coming from the Xbox to the pc, you can really take it proper on that, but the clutch control on Live For Speed Is awesome


The Logitech G25 and getting a decent PC to run the game on! :wink:

Is the clutch control on LFS pretty realistic? I'm thinking of getting a desktop pretty soon with LFS and practise some 'Sunday driving'. :p:

You can get Test Drive Unlimited for the PC - I've no idea where to find it, but you can definitely get it!
Reply 17
Test Drive Unlimited.......Great Game, You Can add in imagining your really on civilian roads because you are...
Reply 18
Buy the G25 and rFactor/Live for Speed for fun and great online racing. As a tool for learning to drive they are nowhere near as useful as buying yourself a cheap (less than £100) car and messing about with it on what available land you have. Even down a quiet side street somewhere. Or perhaps using your folks car on the drive just for clutch control...

Even with the G25 youll never get the same feel as driving a real car!
Thanks for the advice. :smile: