VR or R?

That stands for Virtual Reality or reality.

What I'm talking about is whether or not virtual reality is any thing like the real thing. Computer games, in other words. Until now I've not been in a position to say, as I've not driven any cars that feature in any games enough to be able to determine any similarities or differences.

Fortunately Gran Turismo 5 has a Go Kart in it. This is something that I've driven a lot in real life, I love doing it in real life and so now I can say. The answer is no, but only to a point. If you buy yourself a force feedback steering wheel http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/gaming/wheels, then you will feel bumps and undulations as the wheel reacts to them. The wheel will also simulate torque steer and set itself up to simulate power steering. All this is very good but is force feedback dependant.

The actual game provides information on bumps and undulations but nothing else. In the game the Go Kart is too sensitive to inputs. The thing will spin out at the earliest opportunity. The other problem is that it doesn't look right when you're moving along. It could be the way I sit in Go Karts for real but the POV in the game is too high up.

Gran Turismo 5 is very good. Compared to a normal road car in the game the Go Kart feels spot on, but compared to a real life Go Kart it doesn't.