Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. This includes automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, military vehicles, and a variety of other vehicles. The main challenge is to master driving and steering the vehicle from the perspective of the pilot or driver, with most games adding another challenge such as racing or fighting rival vehicles. Games are often divided based on realism, with some games including more realistic physics and challenges such as fuel management.

Definition

Vehicle simulation games allow players to drive or fly a vehicle. This vehicle can resemble a real one, or a vehicle from the game designer's imagination. This includes vehicles in the air, on the ground, over water, or even in space. Different vehicle simulations can involve a variety of goals, including racing, combat, or simply the experience of driving a vehicle. These games normally allow the player to experience action from the visual perspective of the pilot or driver. Although "racing games are often sold in the sports

Sports game

A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...

 category," Rollings and Adams argue that "from a design

Game design

Game design, a subset of game development, is the process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and design of gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters during production stage. The term is also used to describe both the game design embodied in a game as...

 standpoint, they really belong in ... vehicle simulations".

Goals and challenges

The essential gameplay in a vehicle simulation is the physical and tactical challenge of driving a vehicle. Mastery of vehicle control is the element which encourages players to continue playing, even after the game's goals have been completed. Players learn to use appropriate speed and steering, and must avoid crashing by observing cues about how fast they are going. There are some vehicle simulations where the player is given no specific goal, and is simply able to explore and experience using the vehicle. In the absence of any competition, "some vehicle simulations aren't games at all

Non-game

Non-games define a class of software that lies on the border between video games, toys and applications. The original term non-game game was coined by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. The main difference between non-games and traditional video games is the apparent lack of goals, objectives and...

"

But most vehicle simulations involve some form of competition or race, with a clear winner and loser. Some games add special challenges such as combat and slalom

Slalom

To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It can refer to:Sports:*Alpine Slalom skiing*Whitewater slalom/kayaking*Freestyle slalom skating*Slalom skateboarding*Slalom water skiing*Slalom ice skating*Slalom windsurfing...

s. Many types of driving games, including both military flight simulators and racing simulators, make use of careers and campaigns. Players must complete different tracks or missions, and collect victories and other achievements based on their performance.

Realism and physics

The market for vehicle simulators is "divided between the purists and the casual players". A variety of vehicle simulators have been created to serve both markets. Purists demand total accuracy, whereas casual players are less concerned with such details. This level of accuracy depends on how damage, physics, environment, weather, and controls are implemented. For example, accurate flight simulators will ensure that the vehicle responds slowly to their controls, while other games will treat the plane more like a car in order to simplify the game.

In both driving games and flight simulators, players have come to expect a high degree of verisimilitude where vehicles are scaled to realistic sizes. These types of games usually utilize a highly accurate time scale, although several flight simulators allow players to fast forward through periods where there is nothing interesting happening. In the case of space or water vehicle simulations, the gameplay physics tend to follow those of flying and driving simulations.

These games will add variety by having a variety of vehicles with different performance characteristics, such as sharper turning or faster speed. Many games make use of real life vehicles, including military vehicles or cars from major automobile manufacturers.

Non-driving roles

Although vehicle simulations focus on driving a vehicle, many games involve non-driving roles. For more detailed racing simulations, the player may sometimes play the role of a mechanic who repairs or augments their vehicle. In games with a combat element, this might involve manning a separate combat station on a larger vehicle. Some games such as Their Finest Hour

Their Finest Hour (1989 video game)

Their Finest Hour is a World War II air-combat flight simulation video game, released in October 1989 by LucasFilm Games.-Summary:This video game was the second of a trilogy of World War II titles by LucasFilm Games, the others being "Battlehawks 1942" and "Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe"...

allow players to alternate between piloting the vehicle or manning the waist or tail guns. Megafortress

Megafortress

Megafortress is a flight simulation video game developed by Artech Digital Entertainment and released by Three-Sixty Pacific Inc in 1991. The player takes command of the fictional EB-52 Megafortress created by the military and espionage novelist Dale Brown....

allowed players to operate five separate stations for combat and managing the vehicle. Games that make use of combat have competition modes similar to first-person shooter

First-person shooter

First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

s, where player must defeat human or artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

 opponents.

Sub genres and vehicle types

Rollings and Adams note that "the vast majority of vehicle simulators are flight simulator

Flight simulator

A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...

s and driving (usually car-racing

Racing game

A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...

) simulators". However, this genre includes any game that creates the feeling of driving or flying a vehicle, including the magic broomsticks in the Harry Potter

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

games. More common examples include simulations of driving train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s, spacecraft

Spacecraft

A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....

, boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

s, tank

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

s, and other combat vehicles.

Boat and naval simulations

Most watercraft

Watercraft

A watercraft is a vessel or craft designed to move across or through water. The name is derived from the term "craft" which was used to describe all types of water going vessels...

 simulations are of "powerboats or jet skis". Gameplay differs from driving a car because of the fluid medium, which affects turning. These games involve racing through a course marked by buoy

Buoy

A buoy is a floating device that can have many different purposes. It can be anchored or allowed to drift. The word, of Old French or Middle Dutch origin, is now most commonly in UK English, although some orthoepists have traditionally prescribed the pronunciation...

s, with some tracks allowing the player to make jumps. Sailing simulations are rare, as the complexity of controlling a sailboat appeals to only a specialized market.
However there has been a growing market after Nadeo introduced their Virtual Skipper

Virtual Skipper 5: 32nd America's Cup: The Game

Virtual Skipper 5 is the 5th installment of Nadeo's Virtual Skipper series for Windows. Its a series of sailing simulator games targeted at semi experienced sailors rather than normal gamers. This installment concentrates particularly on the 32nd America's cup held in Valencia Spain in 2007. The...

 games.
Another rather popular sailing game is Sail Simulator 2010. These two games can both be played online against other sailors around the world.

This category includes submarine simulation

Submarine simulator

A submarine simulator, or subsim for short, is usually a computer game in which the player commands a submarine. The usual form of the game is to go on a series of missions, each of which features a number of encounters where the goal is to sink surface ships and to survive counterattacks by...

s, which typically focus on old-fashioned submarine activities such as firing torpedoes at surface ships. Simulations of warships are more rare. Due to their slow speed, games such as Harpoon

Harpoon (video game)

Harpoon is a computer game developed by Three-Sixty Pacific, Inc. in 1989 for the PC/MS-DOS. This was the first game in the Harpoon series.-Plot:...

and Dangerous Waters

Dangerous Waters

Dangerous Waters is a naval simulator developed by Sonalysts Combat Simulations, and was released on February 22, 2005.-Overview:Dangerous Waters features many player-controllable units deployed in the armed forces of 18 different countries. Campaign mode allows a player to control forces as the...

simulate naval warfare involving entire fleets.

Flight simulators

Flight simulator

Flight simulator

A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...

s "tend to fall into military

Combat flight simulator

Combat flight simulators are video games used to simulate military aircraft and their operations...

 or civilian categories".

• Civilian flight simulator: Microsoft Flight Simulator
  Microsoft Flight Simulator
  Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system, although it was marketed as a video game. It is one of the longest-running, best-known and most comprehensive home flight simulator series...
  
  is a notable example of a civilian flight simulator. These games "seldom have any victory conditions, unless they implement racing or specific challenges, such as tests of speed and accuracy". Still, players can be presented with a variety of challenges including flying at night, or flying in harsh weather conditions. One of the most difficult challenges is to land the plane, especially during adverse weather conditions.

• Military flight simulators
  Combat flight simulator
  Combat flight simulators are video games used to simulate military aircraft and their operations...
  
  : Military or combat flight simulators demand that players "achieve the mission's objectives, usually attacking enemy aircraft and ground installations". These games depend heavily on the aircraft or role being simulated, where fighter planes largely engage with enemy aircraft, while bombers are designed to attack targets on the ground. A unique aspect of these games is the ability to view ground targets, or view the action from the perspective of a bomb or missile. Players are often confronted with a series of missions with both primary and secondary objectives, and victory is achieved by completing a combination of goals. Many games will also award different levels of victory based on how many objectives were completed, or how much time or damage the player took.

Racing games

Racing video games "tend to fall into organized racing and imaginary racing categories".

• Racing simulations
  Sim racing
  Sim racing is the collective term for computer software that attempts to simulate accurately auto racing , complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings...
  
  : Organized racing simulators attempt to "reproduce the experience of driving a racing car or motorcycle in an existing racing class: Indycar, NASCAR
  NASCAR
  The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
  
  , Formula 1, and so on." These games draw on real-life to design their gameplay, such as by treating fuel as a resource, or wearing out the car's brakes and tires. Damage is often modeled as a single variable, with more accurate simulations modeling damage to different areas of the car with differing consequences. Aside from trying to win races without crashing, players will sometimes earn prize money that they can spend on upgrading their race car.

• Arcade racing games: Less realistic racing games, sometimes called imaginary or arcadelike racing games, involve "imaginary situations, driving madly through cities or the countryside or even fantasy environments". These games focus less on realistic physics, and may add other challenges such as collecting power-ups, driving through hoops and cones, or shooting weapons at rival players.

Spacecraft simulators

Aside from quasi-educational games about space shuttles, game developers have avoided making realistic space flight simulators because they behave too slowly to interest a wide audience. Thus, Spacecraft simulation games

Space flight simulator game

A space flight simulator game is a genre of simulation video games that lets players experience space flight. Highly realistic examples lacking any sort of combat include Orbiter and Microsoft Space Simulator...

 are typically science fiction games, such as the Wing Commander series. Most games involve piloting a fighter craft in while managing ammunition and damage, although there are capital ship simulations that involve more strategic control of a wide range of weapons and equipment.

Tank and mech simulators

Vehicular combat simulators

Vehicular combat game

Vehicular combat games are typically video or computer games where the primary focus of play concerns automobiles or other vehicles, normally armed with guns or other weaponry, attempting to destroy vehicles controlled by the CPU or by opposing players...

 include tank

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

 simulations and mecha

Mecha

A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...

 simulations. Aside from piloting the vehicle, a key element of gameplay is controlling a rotating turret. These games are seldom fully accurate, as realistic tanks are slow and have limited visibility, which would limit their appeal to casual gamers. Games have made use of mechs in order to appeal to a wider audience, as they can add weapons and capabilities that are not restricted by reality.

Train simulator

This genre also includes simulations of driving train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s. A train simulator

Train simulator

A train simulator is a computer based simulation of rail transport operations.-Industrial train simulations:Like flight simulators, train simulators have been produced for railway training purposes...

 is a computer program

Computer program

A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...

 that simulates rail transport

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

 operations. This includes other kinds of railborne vehicles, such as a tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

.