Car driving games are slightly different to car racing games as the emphasis is not so much on speed but on carrying out different tasks. Some games also have goals that players must reach in order to get to the next level. Car racing games on the other hand are more about getting to the finish line first. While there is not the same adrenalin rush with car driving as players tend to get with car racing, they can still help in developing skills and setting targets. The skills that players have to develop in order to play car driving games are skills that are transferable into real life.



Life is about learning new skills and setting goals and targets that mark a person's progress on whatever path they may have chosen. While most of the games are simply about the thrill of the chase or the meeting of certain targets other games will give players different thrills. Grand Theft Auto for example is one game where the driving or racing is combined with combat and the game is actually quite violent. While you might not mind your youngsters playing car driving games or car racing games you might balk at them playing violent games.

Games like Grand Theft Auto are designed for games consoles such as PS3 which makes them one player games and not quite as thrilling as games that need more than one player. Since Grand Theft Auto there have been more games that combine combat with car driving, these games often involve players having to complete a mission ? a good guys and bad guys? game. GTA Race is one that has the racing and combat together and players can deliberately mount an attack on each other's vehicles and car jack one another. One of the problems that parents might have with such games is whether these games normalise road rage and car jacking. Players can have drivers jumping out of vehicles and tossing Molotov cocktails around on crowded streets, which all seems to combine car driving with mayhem and murder.

The fact of the matter is that people want to play these games because they fulfil some kind of psychological need and they wouldn't dream of doing these things in the real world. Whether youngsters can really tell the difference between the virtual and real world is not so clear cut. Some of the driving and combat games can be found on the internet, a lot of them will be demos where you only get a certain part of the game and you need to pay for the rest of the download.

Car driving and car racing games have changed a lot over the years and games designers and retailers are constantly trying to find something new to add to the pot and to excite the car racing players . Once the graphics have been perfected and the city streets look real then perhaps combat is the only way to go.