We decided to stop playing games for a day and step outside into the real world. In order to find how real life can improve our gaming skills, of course.
Michael Foster

All too often we hear of how games are divorced from reality and how reality has nothing to offer to the serious gamer's life. Not so! Why, only the other day I drove my car through a restaurant window. As the screaming diners dived for cover, I thought wistfully of how this would be a valuable skill to have if I were an undercover cop trying to impress local gangsters, but, alas, it was really just a tiring exercise in filling out insurance forms. Imagine my surprise when this very scenario appeared in my new game, Driver. It just goes to show, you never can tell when a boring part of everyday life can become useful when playing games.

After a few drinks I started to think of other ways that real life can help you play games, so here's the definitive guide to game-enhancing, real-life experiences to be sought out at all costs.

One-Day Driving Course
My lovely other half judged my character rather well when buying me a birthday pressy recently. Deeming me to be just the sort of chap who would enjoy tearing around a racetrack in a powerful racing car, she bought me a one-day racing course. At first I couldn't see anything to be gained from it. After all, I could just play TOCA 2 if I wanted that sort of thrill, but I didn't want to appear ungrateful so I went along.

It was surprisingly good fun, the graphics were really good and the feeling of going around the corners was much better than on the PlayStation. The instructor was very interactive and told me all about racing lines, even better than the Gran Turismo handbook. This certainly came in handy as there was no reset button in the car and I was assured that there would be pain on crashing. This minor drawback aside, there was plenty of fun to be had and quite an adrenaline rush from driving the very sporty cars on offer very, very fast.