Need for Speed in the Real World: Video Games and Real Cars in an All-or-Nothing Race (Video)

A critical detail in any car simulator is the camera selection. Some players prefer the view of third person that shows the vehicle from the outside, which usually works well... but what would happen if someone used it in real life? That's what the folks at Castrol decided to find out, pitting a professional racer against a player. Both took part in the race driving a Ford Mustang with the windows covered, and a camera in the rear as the only visual reference, inspired by the latest edition of Need for Speed.

Need for Speed Payback debuted last November, and both specialized press and players didn't receive it very well. Once again, Electronic Arts made questionable decisions (are we surprised?), starting with the inclusion of microtransactions, an element that basically ruined the game beyond any recovery. It's a pity, because not all aspects of the game are negative. What can we do with Payback then? The folks at Castrol decided to use it as inspiration for an unprecedented challenge:

... yes, it's fine: Nobody denies that it's an advertisement, but at least it has a dose of originality. The professional driver, Luke Woodham. The player and vlogger, Theo Thomas. Both faced off in a time trial on a closed off-road circuit, each driving a modified Ford Mustang. What did they do to the car? In essence they covered all its windows and mirrors, and installed a camera in the rear, so that the drivers can only see the Mustang as if they were racing inside Need for Speed Payback.

The video has almost four million views just on Castrol's English channel, so we can say with some confidence that the campaign was a success. The supposed winner of the race ended up being Luke, and I say 'supposed' because the Web immediately installed the idea that the race was never done in its entirety, and everything we see is edited clips. Either way, we're left with the concept. Do you think you could drive a real car with an external camera?