Does being good at driving simulator games translate very well to real-life racing? Swedish digital games store Viagame decided to find out with an unusual test: strapping a real race car driver into the same vehicle as a decorated video gamer to go head-to-head in both the real and virtual worlds. All this took place at the Circuit de Catalunya, a race track in Barcelona, where the pair climbed into a Renault Mégane RS 265 coupe outfitted with a gaming PC and a 19-inch monitor in the passenger seat. Both drivers started at the same time, hoping to finish the very same circuit from identical cars.

Trading the dashboard for a 19-inch monitor

Without spoiling the ending, there's some disconnect between what's happening in the game (EA's Shift 2) and in real life, where both men experience the real twists and turns of the course. This leads to a sense of chaos, but also a closer tie to reality, where drivers can be seconds apart.

Video house Rooster Teeth did something identical in its Immersion series, which produced similarly jarring results.