The “XBox car racing advert banned” story at

http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/article.aspx?as=adimarticle&f=uk_-_olgbtopnews&t=4023&id=5157149&d=20070404&do=http://newsbox.msn.co.uk&i=http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/mediaexportlive&ks=0&mc=5&ml=ma&lc=en&ae=windows-1252

reminded me of an older story at

http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=6246020

which basically says “People who play car racing video games are more likely to be aggressive and risky drivers”.

Which seems pretty obvious, getting used to taking stupid risks and doing mad things in a game surely spills over into real life. Yes I’ve played doom and never shot anybody but I don’t walk round carrying a shot gun and monsters don’t leap out at me. I do drive a ton or so of metal at (relatively) high speed and driving games are a much better simulation of real life.

There’s a story of a guy who spent so long crop spraying (in a real plane, not a simulator) that when he finished and drove home as he came up to the gate he didn’t stop but pulled back on the steering wheel to climb over it! We all know the feeling that 40 is no speed at all after a couple of hours at 70. We get used to stuff and driving is a very much auto pilot hind brain thing.

So what I want to know is when will they ban Carmageddon et al from motorway services - all that adrenaline, all that aggression and then you climb back into a real car and get cut up by real idiots - is that good idea?

I’ll give it some thought as I flog up 200 miles of motorway tomorrow…