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Video games have more cultural importance now than they ever have before, and if you can’t quite believe that, simply consider the ways that sort of tech has spilled over into our vehicles.
One of the first major gaming milestones dates to 1972, with the release of Pong. This arguably-first-ever video game was as simple as they come: pass a digital ‘ball’ back and forth until somebody makes a mistake.
Based on the real-life game of ping-pong (itself a simplified version of tennis), Pong marked a revolution in human-to-technology interfaces.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, we saw computers being implemented into vehicles for things such as trip odometers, and eventually trusting them enough to handle some engine management functions such as the fuel mixture and fuel injection systems.
Fast-forward many years, and computers now control our lives. We carry one around on our hip that can connect us to anybody in the world, and we’ve also turned them into the largest information source in the universe. Our phones are not only practical forms of communication and information sources, however; they can also be used for play, and many come with games to occupy our spare time.
So it only makes sense the computers in our car would eventually succumb to the same fate. Here are five ways video games are crossing over into the car world.
Lucid Air’s “Design Yours” Car Configurator
Lucid is not only hoping to turn the automotive world on its head with its new Air EV, but also the way we buy cars, thanks to its online configurator, built on technology rooted in video games.
Using a technique called ray-tracing, Lucid’s configurator is able to create a photorealistic rendering of the vehicle, surpassing every other configurator to make it the most realistic ever created. (Ray-tracing generates an image by tracing the path of lights as pixels in an image plane, as opposed to typical scanline rendering. You can thank video games for that.)
Automakers’ Augmented Reality Repairs
Traditionally, when styling a new car, a designer would have to completely block out a model in clay if they wanted to check the proportions of each and every detail in full view. Now, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) is letting designers more easily access that full walkaround view sooner, via a digital model they can interact with.
Brands like BMW and Audi have been putting AR and VR to work like that in the studio, and Nissan did, too, with its new Z Proto. Beyond that, some automakers have also used AR to help dealership mechanics “see through” parts of the car they’re working on fixing and make better diagnoses faster.
On the consumer side, some carmakers’ customers can now use VR apps on their cell phones to digitally position the car in their driveway or garage and walk around it without ever setting foot in a dealership.
Nissan Leaf’s Gamify-ing Your Driving
Car racing video games are old news, but you might not be aware of the “gamification” of green driving some automakers have undertaken to better our driving behaviour. The best example may be Carwings, an app Nissan Leaf EV drivers can use to compete against each other—not in terms of their speed, but how efficiently they drive.
It’s kind of like a racing video game, but instead of nailing the best lap time, the goal is to get the best range out of your battery. More than half of Leaf owners having signed up for Carwings.
There are a few different categories to compete in, including ‘most miles per kWh,’ ‘highest distance travelled,’ ‘least electricity consumed by accessories,’ ‘most regenerated energy,’ and ‘most number of trips.’ Turning it into a game draws a lot more drivers in than a simple battery gauge on the dashboard might.
Tesla’s Turning Your Model X into a Kart
So far, so practical, right? Since we’re talking video games, let’s have fun. Specifically, how about we hop in a Tesla to actually play a video game on the car’s infotainment screen using your car’s controls? Tesla’s Beach Buggy Racing 2 is an arcade-style racing game extremely similar to Mario Kart, which allows the driver to race a tiny cartoon Tesla right on their dashboard.
The game actually uses the car’s steering wheel and pedals to control the character in the game. If you don’t want to wear out your actual car, you can also use the touchscreen as a controller instead. The game is also playable on your phone, if you’re bored at work.
Hyundai’s Concept Joystick Controls
If using your steering wheel and pedals to play a video game isn’t enough for you, let’s flip it around and talk about using a joystick to actually drive your car. Granted, singular joysticks aren’t used as controllers in video games all that much today, but nostalgia is in, right?
The first vehicle to use joystick controls was a weird Saab prototype that never made it to production—it’s probably better it didn’t. Have you ever tried to fly a plane in Flight Simulator with a joystick? It’s not easy. Now apply that to something much less maneuverable and way less interesting, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
More recently, Hyundai’s Prophecy EV Concept showed off a joystick controller, but we’re guessing when the production version arrives, the joystick will have been nixed.