> I don't even really know how to explain this, so I'll give it my best shot.
>
> I have a racing sim on my PC called Live For Speed, a Logitech Driving Force Pro
> controller and a 24 inch LCD monitor.
>
> When I turn the lights off and all I see is the monitor, it's damn fun and pretty
> realistic, in that the physics are really good. It's more of a sim than a "game".
>
> Anyway, I load up the car list (updated since the pic but it doesn't matter) and
> assign several AI controlled drivers some of the more mundane, type of cars you're
> likely to encounter on the road. In other words, from basic to sporty but no souped
> up cars...load up the longest track and set the game to "practice" mode meaning that
> it's an open track, no set laps or time limit. The AI controlled cars leisurely drive
> around the track for a lap or two so they're nice and spaced out.
>
> I queue up some nice music, and load up my virtual car, which happens to be almost
> identical to my real car and what the game calls the XF GTI and enter the track.
> Simulating rush hour on the freeway.
>
> Passing cars, pulling the e-brake around turns with no abandon for safety because
> there is no pain on the virtual track. honking the horn and flashing the lights on my
> facsimile car with music blasting....
>
> It's my drive home from work fantasy come true. I can't believe I put effort into
> simulating my drive home from work.
>
>
>
> EDIT: The AI with the sportier type cars drive like assholes too. It's fun to sneak
> up on them in my compact and do a PIT maneuver on them.
Heh. I've been known to do the very same thing in rFactor. Bizarre? Yes. But all kinds of fun? Yes!
Lately I've been getting my sim a-hole fix in Test Drive Unlimited 2... while the physics and handling are not even remotely sim-like (nor does force feedback really do anything), the a-hole factor is off the friggin charts. Player assholery is actually encouraged and rewarded by the game mechanics.
The AI is wont to do things like driving with their left turn signal on for several miles at 30mph then abruptly jamming on their brakes and making a right turn instead, braking at random while on a straight stretch of road with no turn offs, or merging suddenly into your path as you move to overtake at a high speed differential. They are also quite fond of sitting stationary at traffic signals long after the lights have turned green, only deigning to move through the intersection as the lights go yellow (I can only guess that there is a sophisticated subroutine programmed into the game in which the AI has a simulated cell phone conversation with their simulated significant others, explaining that they're only a couple minutes away from home, and that yes, they did remember to pick up a gallon of sim-milk at the sim-store while they were out). As such, the game models real world public driving behavior really, really convincingly.
Needless to say, your job as a player is to out-asshole the AI, and the game actually rewards you with increasing amounts of money proportional to the level of assholedom you display. This is all compounded by the fact that there are thousands of miles of heavily trafficked roads in the game, and plenty of oncoming traffic to weave in and out of. There is a final a-hole threshold you can reach, wherein police cruisers start chasing you down, setting up roadblocks and trying to perform their own pit maneuvers on you, all quite a bit like the original DOS Need For Speed but with a huge, open, persistent world of pure assholeness.
As arcade driving game entertainment, it's actually pretty grand.
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