A racing wheel makes driving sims — and learning to drive — much more realistic

My 15-year-old kid is about to get her driving permit. I had the bright idea of teaching her how drive in a racing simulation with a realistic force-feedback steering wheel, complete with stainless steel throttle, brake, and clutch pedals. We performed an experiment with a high-end console game and steering wheel with the aim of answering the question: Can a video game teach you to drive?

To no surprise, I have been singularly unsuccessful in getting these daughters — and their older 18-year-old sister — to play any console game with a game controller. But as soon as I set up the $399 racing wheel, they couldn’t get enough of it. The game controller was intimidating, but the racing wheel made the video game console so much more accessible to them. It was as if I gave the car keys to them for a joy ride. If you’ve got some novice drivers or gamers, the wheel is an excellent way to introduce them to racing games.