Do racing sims make you a better driver?

[thegimp03]

After playing Forza 3 I find myself jumping into my car and driving a little faster than normal...so probably not.

 

[blurredvision]

But some instinct inside of me made me hit the gas, not the brakes, and I barely made past him without contact.

Haha, that makes it sound like you've been playing Burnout, not sim racing.

 

[bullbert]

No, but space sims have made me a better astronaut.

 

[foghorn67]

No. After driving a Lola Chevy/Ilmor "B" Indy car for a few minutes, and somehow emerging with car intact and not a scratch on me...no.
I say most of this is perspective and the sensation of speed. Other factors are the "feeling".
What racing sims try to do, but can't:
-Cold tires vs. warm tires.
-Tire attrition, flat spotting.
-Shifting. Sequential or non-sequential gearboxes. It doesn't matter. Shifting your own is a joke on any racing sim, steering wheel with a clutch pedal and shifter. Doesn't matter. It's a joke. The only reason I might choose manual on a sim is to get more traction by selecting a higher gear, because the any sim is too stupid to realize that a dab on a throttle in a low gear sends you flying into the gravel.
-Setups. Really? Yeah it's fun tinkering with that. But it's not even close.
Think about it. There are friggin engineers and real gurus out there scratching their heads over setups on real race cars. Now you get to tinker with your hearts delight on that protype racer. Yeah, not even close to the real thing. Sure, it might be a decent primer on what does what, I'll give you that.
-Sensation of speed. Multiple displays can help with that, but the perspective is kind of willy nilly.

 

[SandEagle]

lol

actually i was thinking about this same question earlier this morning. i think i can attribute my good driving skills somewhat to playing racing car games for the last 20+ years. a lot of new drivers i deal with get confused (re: asians) when they try to reverse because they don't know how the car will react when they turn the wheel all the way left or right.