A study by the United Kingdom’s largest driving school, BSM, shows that the roads are being plagued by “game boy racers.” The term “game boy” still isn’t dying, is it? Here are a few highlights:

• (34%) of young male and female drivers confess they are more likely to drive faster on roads shortly after indulging in on-screen driving action
• (27%) of young drivers admit they take greater driving risks after a gaming session.
• (42%) 16-24 year olds playing driving simulation games at least once a week, and 6% of young men playing daily, the research shows that frequent gamers are almost twice as likely as less regular players to lose their sense of reality on the open road
• Young men are the worst offenders, twice as likely as women to blur virtual and on-road driving (27% and 16% respectively).

So, what does this all mean? Guys who play racing video games are dangerous, of course. Before, it was violent games, now it’s racing games. Shouldn’t gamers be able to defer jumping on planks like on games such as Burnout and how driving is in the real world? But, then again, the research also has some insightful things to say about video games.

• 54% of frequent players pass their driving test on the first attempt – compared to 45% of infrequent gamers.
• Over one third (34%) of young drivers think that gaming can improve real-life driving abilities – whilst a combination of parental and expert instruction is believed to have the most positive impact of all (71%).
• Two in five youngsters (40%) believe their reflex reactions are likely to be better after playing a driving game.
• 39% believe gaming helps improve hand-to-eye coordination.
• Frequent gamers rate their real-life driving skills at 7.2 out of 10, compared to infrequent gamers’ score of 6.7.

So, it’s more of a good and bad scenario, but I doubt anyone will even care to pay attention to the pros of simulation race driving. It’s just one big excuse to blame our youth’s behavioral problems on.

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