October 16, 2017 11.25 am This story is over 77 months old

Lincolnshire Police try out new Gran Turismo PlayStation game to improve driving skills

An innovative new training method.

Lincolnshire Police used the new GT: Sport racing game. Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Lincolnshire Police have been testing out the new Gran Turismo Sport PlayStation game to look at new driver training methods.

Four operations officers went to Silverstone race circuit to test the new game and its effects on driving and to see if additional methods could help increase the police training structures.

Assistant Chief Constable Shaun West, said: “Our officers met with experts at GT Academy at Silverstone to investigate whether the alternate route they offer to professional drivers – training players virtually using Gran Turismo and then transitioning them to real-world track driving – could offer Lincolnshire Police an alternate way of looking at how we develop and supplement our existing training methods.”

After doing a lap at Silverstone, the four officers were coached using the new virtual reality mode to develop their driving skills which identified if the officers under or oversteered, carried too much speed into corners and their breaking.

When returning to the circuit, some officers reduced their lap time after the training.

“There will never be a replacement for traditional training methods but we are always looking for innovative ways to supplement the learning of our officers and staff,” said Shaun West.

“If Gran Turismo can help to train world class racing drivers, then we were keen to explore whether it could offer anything to our officers and help expand the way we think about evolving and refreshing our training methods.

“It’s important to emphasise that exploring other methods such as this is not in any way seeking to substitute the rigorous training we already have in place but is simply another way to potentially bolster those existing programmes that our officers undertake.”

Assistant Chief Constable Shaun West

Laurence Wiltshire, managing director of GT Academy said: “GT Academy has proven that the skills learned via Gran Turismo directly transfer from the virtual track on to there alone.

“This is thanks to the incredibly accurate simulation of the tracks but more importantly the simulation of the cars, their physics and how they handle.

“GT Sport is the best in the series history and, with the addition of VR mode, offers the most realistic driving simulation yet.

“It’s one thing to train racing drivers but the idea that a game could help officers respond to emergencies more efficiently is mind-blowing.”