From Virtual to Reality: Learning to Drive a Racecar

A new wave of young gamers is proving that real-world racing skills can be learned virtually. In Gran Turismo Academy, a global virtual-to-reality racecar driving contest, the best online players get a chance to train with Nissan, and both scientists and players say the online gaming experience is useful in the real world.

Traditionally, world-class racecar drivers have had similar beginnings; they often start young on go karts, progress to sprint cars and move up from there, with real-world experience being a key part of their eventual success. However today, video games like Gran Turismo have replaced real-life racing experience with a simulation, and it has led to actual racecar driving careers.

Jann Mardenborough (pictured above) is just one example of a driver who's earned his stripes on a PlayStation rather than a track. Though he did experience kart racing for a short time when he was young, Mardenborough primarily honed his driving skills playing Gran Turismo in his bedroom, then later went on to win the 2011 European GT Academy online competition, which earned him a chance to train on real-life racecourses with Nissan. Unlike most professional racers, he didn't tackle a full-size racetrack until he was 19, which is considered ancient in driver years. Yet, with his experience gaming, Mardenborough has made a career of racecar driving and is set to compete in the 2014 FIA European Formula 3 Championship.

It may sound farfetched to say that playing a video game will give someone the experience needed to enter this profession, but science proves this statement is not so far off the mark. Tests have actually shown that playing video games rewires the brain and boosts specific skills. For example, Daphne Bavelier of the University of Geneva and University of Rochester found that those who played first-person shooting games were up to 50 percent better than nongamers when it came to identifying, locating and tracking objects, which are also skills needed in racing.

So, before you decide that you don't want your kids playing video games, consider that while they shouldn't be hooked to their consoles 24 hours a day, video games can offer an educational and interactive experience that could one day lead to a unique career.