Study - Those who play racing games are more dangerous drivers in real life

A study conducted by Continental Tires has found that those who play racing games are much more dangerous behind the wheel, than those who abstain from racing games.

Continental Tires asked 2,000 drivers between the ages of 17 and 39 questions regarding their driving habits, whether they played racing games, and how often they felt road rage.

Compared with drivers who don't play games like Need for Speed or Gran Turismo, gamers who love to race around virtually tend to get pulled over by traffic police, get into more accidents, take more risks than usual, and suffer more road rage.

The report didn't state how many females participated in the study.

"It seems that while gamers develop useful skills and are more confident, they need to apply some balance with a sensible assessment of risk," said Continental's Tim Bailey.

"I am not surprised that regular gamers find themselves making the same decisions and judgments when driving for real as they do when in the virtual world," added Peter Rodger from the Institute of Advanced Motorists. "The issue is that when actually driving, our actions lead to 'real' results, and mistakes have very real consequences."

In other words, slow down. You're only Mario Andretti in your living rooms, not when driving your economy car to the shops.

Via Jalopnik, BigDownload.