Driving Theory Training

It can exercise your brain and teach you to cook – and now the DS is going to help you pass your driving test. Ben Parfitt maims a pensioner and incurs a major fault…

Nintendo’s ‘New Ways to Play’ mantra was impressive enough to begin with, but to see how the platform holder’s successful DS and Wii platform duo have evolved far beyond that is truly mind-blowing. It’s no longer just playing in new ways – the machines have paved the way for a whole new breed of lifestyle software.

Starting with Brain Training, Nintendo’s bandwagon has progressed to a number of software titles that would have been niche PC products at best pre-DS, but are now fully-fledged mainstream sales drivers. It’s not just Nintendo producing the goods, either.

Admittedly, Brain Training, Sight Training and Cooking Guide are leading first party examples, but Atari’s first forays into the sector have success written all over them. What’s Cooking with Jamie Oliver is on the way later in the year, but before then we’ll see Atari release Driving Theory Training, which carries the official DSA seal of approval.

“This is the first Driving Test Theory package for people on the move with their DS, targeting new learner drivers and existing drivers wanting to refresh their driving knowledge,” Atari’s head of marketing Shân Savage tells MCV. “With 1.8 million learner drivers sitting their theory test each year, Atari will be providing a new fun way of training.”

Suitable for both car and motorcycle learners, the title’s feature list makes it a must-have learning aid. Certified as valid for the DSA’s official tests as of September, it packs in over 1,000 questions, crammed into a realistic exam mode. It also includes the entire Highway Code, driving simulations for those all-so-tricky compulsory manoeuvres and even offers a statistical analysis of a user’s performance.

Atari’s title throws some mini-games into the package, including ‘Know Your Dashboard’, ‘Park Your Car’ and a road sign memory challenge.

The publisher points out that throughout 2006/07 there were 1.62 million driving tests taken by those aged 17-34 – which, unsurprisingly, is the prime target demographic for this title. It’s also worth noting that in this period, 48 per cent of males passed their driving tests whilst only 40 per cent of females did. This has nothing to do with the game, but is vital ammunition for whenever your driving is questioned.

Hopes are so high for this title that Nintendo is championing it as part of its own summer DS marketing campaign. Atari will target lifestyle publications and websites, with ads in Nuts, Zoo, Maxim, FHM, Loaded, Boys Toys, T3, Stuff, Heat, Now and Closer. Coverage is also planned in the games press and across the national news media, and even in driving learning centres.

Considering that, by Atari’s numbers, CD-based PC driving test products accounted for 74 per cent of all available reference titles on the subject in 2007 (equating to over 500,000 units) the scope for a console release speaks very clearly for itself.

It’s realistic to expect Driving Theory Training to set a new benchmark for evergreen titles.