469 days

Winda Benedetti

No, driving games don't make you a better driver

OK all you racing game fanatics ... it's time to take the pedal off the metal. The real pedal off the real metal, that is.

According to a new study, people who like to play racing video games don't make the best real-world drivers ... despite what they might think.

Continental Tires conducted the study, quizzing 2,000 motorists between 17 and 39 years old with half of them being gamers and half of them being non-gamers, reports the car tech site Jalopnik.

They asked the participants questions about their driving habits and found that, although the gamers believed they were more skilled drivers than non-gamers, they also reported making more accident claims on their insurance, reported getting stopped by the police more and reported accidentally hitting a stationary object when parking more often.

And here's a few more tidbits from the study:

• 25 percent of the racing gamers surveyed reported speeding compared to 13 percent of non-gamers
• 31 percent of gamers reported running a red light in the last month compared to 14 percent of non-gamers
• 45 percent of the gamers reported suffering road rage compared to 22 percent of non-gamers
• 19 percent of the gamers reported accidentally clipping a car and keeping quiet about it compared to 11 percent of non-gamers.

But hey, there's also some good news for those who've honed their driving in skills in a virtual world. According to the study, it only took them two attempts on average before passing their driver's test rather than an average of three attempts for non-gamers. Also, despite all the other stats, the gamers reported getting fewer dents in their vehicle than non-gamers.

I'm not totally sure how that computes, but hey since this study was all based on self-reporting (and conducted by a tire company no less), it's safe to say there's plenty of room for error here.

That said, Msnbc games editor Todd Kenreck has just confessed to me that, during his carefree youth, he might have recieved a speeding ticket or two after playing a racing game or two.

So, it can't hurt to remind ourselves that the kind of driving that happens in a game should stay in a game. Because when it's game over in the real world, it's game over. And that's no fun for anyone.

(For the full results of the study, speed on over to Jalopnik.)

For more game news, check out:

• 'Call of Duty' players have killed the world nine times
• Gaming with your daughter is good for her
• Sony reveals PSP successor - the Next Generation Portable

Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter.