As Sony launched its latest gaming console last week, scientists suggested racing games may lead to risk-taking in real-life driving. Patrick Loguehas his doubts.
Some time back in the 1980s, a debate was raging in a Co Meath household over whether a computer game console should be let through the front door.
The debate broke down on familiar lines. One side argued that every other kid in the class was getting one and, basically, "Aw, c'mon Mam". The other feared the machine would see three fit, able and squabbling offspring sitting on their backsides for the rest of time, never to kick a ball, have a race or hold a conversation again.
When the talking (and shouting) was over, a Spectrum 48k console arrived with a range of games. One game was Daly Thompson's decathlon, another featured a man with wings who travelled between worlds. A third featured spaceships shooting other spaceships and yet another was a very crude game involving speeding cars, crashing into each other and anything else that came into their path. Innocent fun or bad parenting?
Well, none of us have become world-class thalluses or tried to enter mysterious worlds by growing wings. Nor have any of us tried to shoot spaceships out of the sky, nor indeed have any of the Logues become raving lunatics on the roads. The games console had no effect that we can discern.
But two decades on, with increased prevalence of gaming by children and young adults and with the dawn of more realistic and violent games, a team of German psychologists believe that our driving may well be suffering.
Much in the same way as violent, shoot-em-up games encourage violent real-life behaviour, according to the scientists, driving games such as Grand Theft Auto, Need for Speed and Midnight Racer may be leading to risky and dangerous behaviour on the roads.
Only days before the launch of Sony's new Playstation 3, three separate studies published last week found the playing of racing games is linked to drivers with higher accident rates, provoked increased thoughts of dangerous driving and increased risk-taking in simulators.
A team of researchers in Germany concluded that "playing racing games could provoke unsafe driving", particularly in young males, and urged further research to find out if the use of racing games has a long-term effect on driving.The findings are published in the latest edition of the American Psychological Association's Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
One study questioned 198 men and 92 women, asking how often they played racing games and how many crashes they had been in. They were also asked how much they agreed with statements such as "I like to participate in street races" and "I like to drive very fast when the car is full of people".
The study "provided initial evidence that the consumption of racing games is associated with increased obtrusive and competitive road traffic behaviour, reduced cautious road traffic behaviour and an increased number of reported accidents". These were more pronounced for men than for women, according to the research.
A second study asked 29 men and 39 women to play a variety of racing games. Afterwards, participants took a driving simulation test, the Vienna Risk-Taking Test, where they are asked to react to video footage of "real" driving situations, such as starting to overtake or approaching railway tracks with the barriers coming down.
Participants were given the opportunity to abandon the risky manoeuvre by pressing a key. The time that elapsed before they did this was recorded, and seen as an indicator of their willingness to take risks
This study concluded that racing games "increased readiness to take risks in critical road traffic situations".
A third study involved 36 women and 47 men who were asked to play one racing game (Burnout, Midnight Racer, or Need for Speed) or a neutral game (Tak, Crash Bandicoot or Fifa 2005) on a Sony PlayStation 2 games console. To win the racing games, say the German scientists, players must "massively violate traffic rules" by driving on footpaths, crashing into other cars and driving at high speed. After playing the games, participants were asked to define words that had two meanings, one risk-related and the other neutral. For example the German word "fetzen" can mean "driving fast" or "a rag".
This study revealed that "a higher accessibility of risk-promoting cognitions and stronger arousal/excitement was subsequently observed among racing gamers than among neutral gamers".
The researchers said the three studies combined prompted their conclusion that playing racing games "could provoke unsafe driving".
"Practitioners in the field of road traffic safety should bear in mind the possibility that racing games indeed make road traffic less safe, not least because game players are mostly young adults, acknowledged as the highest accident-rate group," researchers said.
They said future research was needed to investigate whether it is possible to "extrapolate from short-term effects of racing games to possible long-term effects by using a longitudinal study design".
But Dr Ray Fuller of Trinity College's School of Psychology says there is no hard evidence to suggest a link between racing games and bad behaviour on the roads.
"The factors that cause people to drive recklessly are complex," says Fuller. "We don't have any evidence to suggest that driving is affected by high-speed arcade or computer games.The problem is the very people who are attracted to them are the very people who are likely to take high risks."
Fuller believes driving games may even be of benefit to those who are prone to taking risks on the road. "Maybe we need something else to satisfy this risk-taking need. Games could well have a cathartic effect."
In studies of poor driving over more than a decade, Fuller says he has never come across any mention of car racing games. He believes it was right to examine whether the games could have an effect, but believes there is "categorically" no evidence to back up the assertion as yet.