4 Ways Gaming Has Impacted the Auto Industry

The symbiotic relationship between video games and automakers is hard to ignore. Technologies that only existed in video games are quickly becoming commonplace. People's perspective on gaming is also changing. One study reveals that those playing video games can significantly improve their driving skills. And as the world gears up to fully adopt autonomous cars—a groundbreaking innovation—we can only expect better technologies moving forward. Here are four ways gaming has impacted the auto industry.

Gone are the days when car designers built clay car models to get a detailed and complete view of a car before construction. Things have changed for the better. Car-designing is now faster and more accurate and uses two popular gaming technologies—Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). AR and VR applications do more than design cars. Big brands such as BMW and Audi use AR for faster and more accurate car diagnoses.

Consumers are also not left out. You can now install a VR app on your smartphone and take a tour of a virtual showroom from the comfort of your home. You can view a car stock image and change different car features using your smartphone, computer, or tablet. And the best part is the app allows you to park the car in your driveway for a 360-degree interior and exterior view. You can even test drive it.

Those who’ve played Gran Turismo—a racing simulation video game probably know something about the Lucid Car Configurator. The configurator uses ray-tracing technology to create car photorealistic rendering. Lucid tray-tracing is also the same technology used in TV character generation in news crawls. It generates pictures from light paths represented as pixels on image planes. Lucid is arguably the most photorealistic configurator to ever exist.

Joysticks were popular in video arcade games in the 1980s and 1990s. Although some people still use them today, their popularity has significantly reduced as we now have better technology—gamepads. But one thing is for sure. Joysticks in video games inspired the first joystick-controlled car—Saab, which unfortunately didn’t make it to production.

Hyundai has since improved on the technology to unveil—“Prophecy,” an electric vehicle (EV) that uses joystick controls instead of steering wheels. The car is expected to be a significant aid to people with severe disabilities.

Game developers are now looking beyond racing fun. The dominant racing video games will soon be a thing of the past. The focus is now shifting to encouraging healthy driving and more eco-friendly practices. Nissan has already set the pace through Carwings. The app allows Nissan Leaf EV drivers to compete on driving efficiency instead of speed. Carwings’ competition categories include The longest distance covered, most miles per kWh, least energy consumption, and highest energy generated. More than half of Nissan Leaf EV owners have already signed up.

The relationship between gaming and the auto industry continues to grow stronger by the day. Video games have revolutionized our interactions with cars. More innovations inspired by gaming will come, and car enthusiasts can only expect a better experience moving forward.