Tesla Arcade practice: use a model 3 steering wheel as a game controller

Tesla takes its secret video game features from its shadows and puts them at the center of its business today as Tesla Arcade, a new gaming center found in its line of electric vehicles. And earlier this afternoon, the company brought a model 3 to downtown San Francisco to let The edge try Arcade and its new title, the developer of Vector Unit, Beach Buggy Racing 2. It's a racing game on Android that you can play on a phone or tablet, but what makes it special on a Tesla car is its controller: the steering wheel in the literal sense of the model 3.

Tesla has always been proud to treat her electric vehicles as computers, and she often claims the ability to send her cars live updates that will change the game and add features such as enhanced self-driving capabilities. to stupid Easter eggs like "James Fashion Bond. Tesla is now going further and turning its cars into full-fledged video game consoles.

With this new update, you will get Beach Buggy Racing 2 next to some existing Atari clbadics. Tesla also promises to support Studio MDHR's cartoony platform Copper in the coming months, which will work with the joystick support that Tesla has already deployed. The update also makes these game features easier to find. Previously, they were hidden in a special menu accessible only by pressing the Tesla logo from the main center of the information center and finding a secret drawer for Easter eggs. You can now access Tesla Arcade by tapping an arrow icon at the bottom of the main icons on the Home screen, which opens a dedicated menu bar. From there, you can press the "Arcade" button to immediately access the complete list of titles.

Photo of Brennan King / The Verge

Vector Unit worked alongside Tesla engineers to ensure that his game could fit into the car's steering and braking system. (Sorry, no gasoline: Tesla advises you not to press the accelerator while playing the game. Just in case you forget it, the software disables the pedal until you if you leave Arcade and receive a detailed warning message.) In solo mode, you can use the steering wheel or touch controls. I could even use both at the same time, running with one hand and tapping on the screen to use in-game bonuses and attack items. There is also the two-player mode, in which a pbadenger can play in split screen next to you, by touching the screen while you use the steering wheel.

The steering has been surprisingly responsive, mainly because the Tesla software frees the steering wheel from its standard parking rigidity and allows you to move it freely, as you would on a toy wheel attached to a racing cabinet. You can also adjust the steering sensitivity. It does not change the feel of the wheel, but the movements of the wheel move your character into the game more dramatically.

I found it much more fun to use the steering wheel than the touchscreen controls and pressing the brake pedal (which I confess I did not do too often) gave the impression that it had a realistic slowing effect on my steering wheel. car. Another interesting aspect is that your vehicle in the game is no longer a cartoony car, but the actual model and color of your real life Tesla, taken from embedded software.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke about the integration at the E3 video game show last week in a conversation with Todd Howard of Bethesda, who is helping the gaming studio work with Tesla Anti-atomic shelter to his line of electric cars. But Musk did not give a release date for Arcade at the time. The company announced that the update would be going on Tesla cars this week and next, but everyone can try it out in a Tesla showroom until June 30th.

Personally, I never really see myself want to to play mobile games on the screen in my car. But as a person who commutes on a bike without owning a vehicle since finishing school, I can say that having a car capable of playing video games like this is certainly an attractive dream. . I can certainly understand those who own Teslas and want to use Tesla Arcade, or who are simply excited about a future where the modern car will have an application ecosystem as robust as our smartphones are now.

A spokesman for Tesla tells The edge the idea is to do something fun and unique that can keep you busy while you wait for someone, or you are at a Supercharger station. It is useful that the games are really fun to play and the screen of the Model 3 is a beautiful screen that rivals the iPad Pro. In this sense, Arcade is another feature that Tesla owners can show their friends, such as the litany of Easter eggs that preceded it and more visceral features like the Model S. Ludicrous mode.

For the moment, just hope that Tesla, the daredevils, will not try to put their play sessions to light.