Tuesday, April 23, 2013

"Drive" - the game of death and destruction at an arcade near you.

So today - traffic on our roads.

With the discovery of diamonds in Zim, there is now a steady stream of heavy mining equipment being moved into the country from South Africa - most of it being transported by road, and these heavy transporters can prove to be quite difficult to overtake, simply because they are so large.




An added little test when driving in Zimbabwe is the fact that the oncoming traffic frequently drives on the wrong side of the road. In Zim and in South Africa, as in Great Britain, we drive on the left hand side. However the engines used for ploughing fields ready for planting are very often approaching in your lane, making life very difficult indeed.



In front of us at one stage was a bus - with the front side panel flapping madly in the wind. We could not overtake for fear that the panel could fall off at any moment and lodge between our eyes, and so we had to stay behind him - a good 20-car lengths back in fact.




Incredibly about a mile later, as the bus turned of the road ahead of us - the side panel actually fell off and lodged beneath the tyre (tire - for you Yanks out there!). How often do you see a bus self-destruct in front of you - and how often are you holding a camera at the ready in the expectation the bus will fall apart before your very eyes? We were still behind him when he turned off and the angle of the wheel was enough to cut the last threads that had held it attached to the bus. The sound of fibre-glass being ground to powder beneath his wheels made the bus driver slam on anchors rapidly - much to the alarm to the usual cows, chickens and goats that are in attendance at every stand of shops along the way! What are the chances of catching the action on film?

Well - believe it or not.....


So now the question is this - with all these real-life hazards on our roads - do you not think that there is more than ample scope for an "app" featuring a strip of tarmac, and oncoming cattle, self-destructing buses and huge unwieldy transporters as hazards to be safely negotiated before you reach the next 'level'?

Maybe so - and I do believe it would sell - but the problem is that the makers of such games would never, in their wildest dreams, believe that such obstacles would be accepted by the public as part of a normal day out on the road! Can you believe it?

Have a great day!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Simon,
    I believe only Great Britian in Europe drives on the left side. Most of the rest will drive on the right side with the occasional drift over to the wrong side.

    Douglas

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Douglas - yes you are right! Corrected with thanks. Simon

    ReplyDelete