Real race car drivers use Gran Turismo to train
Whoever said video games were tools that turned people into mindless zombies needs to take a step back and check out what race car drivers are using to educate themselves in their perilous career. Yep, real life racers utilize the racing simulator known as Gran Turismo to keep their abilities honed. Their motive for doing this is when a new track opens up for Formula 1 racers. Sometimes they can't get on the track to train before a race, so they fire up Gran Turismo and take the virtual tour. It makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
Even the creator of the series, Kazunori Yamauchi, went over 1,000 laps on a certain track in his game and then went at it for real. After twelve laps on the real track (the first twelve had him at 90% capacity) he was getting times rivaling the pack of true racers. Sounds like a useful simulator for those aspiring to race cars for a living. It probably helps with general driving knowledge and skills, too. Don't quote us on that, though.
[via Digg]
