Video Game Realism

Video games are blending the line between reality and fiction.

With games that strive for authenticity (like Gran Turismo 5 and Forza 3) gamers are getting a more and more realistic experience. The two games that I mentioned before are particularly know for this, and they aim for not only realistic driving physics, but also realistic sounds for those same cars. With the increased graphic capabilities of consoles like the Playstation 3 and XBox 360, these cars approach the quality of the real world as well, though they're not quite at that point yet.

Games like these also try to replicate famous race tracks from around the world, like Germany's Nürburgring. These tracks have all the turns, dips, hills, and conditions of the well known locations. While you don't experience of the G-Forces that would really be present in the real car, you also don't run the risk of wrapping a Ferrari around a tree. Also it's much cheaper to buy a $60 game, then a plane ticket all over the world.

Moving beyond racing games you have games like the Call of Duty series, which instead of realism in cars gives you realism in weapons. The way that different guns act when fired, and the sound of the different weapons are where these games shine. 

Still other games give you realistic physic engines, meaning that objects in the virtual world act like they would in the real world. One of the most famous physics engines is in the Orange Box (Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Portals). The makers of that series even went beyond just making a great physics engine, they also put that engine in the hands of the players with Garry’s Mod, which gave players the ability to play with the physics in ways the original developers never would have thought to.

Bloggers Note: Just because you can do things in a realistic video game, doesn’t mean you can do it for real...you dummy.