PlayStation Drive: Which Country Is Best At Driving Video Games?
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Throughout the majority of 2020 and now at the start of 2021, many of us have been unable to experience the joys of driving as much as we usually would, with our cars being resigned to taking us to work or to the shops and back, rather than on a scenic road trip.
However, we have still been able to take to the road in the virtual world. More of us are filling our time indoors besting our fastest laps on classics like Mario Kart, smashing circuits in a 2009 used Vauxhall Corsa VXR in Forza or off-roading in a beat-up Ford rally car in DiRT. Which got us thinking, just as certain countries dominate real-life racing tracks, could we find out whether certain nationalities are better at driving games than others?
We turned to speedrun.com, an extensive online gaming leader board, to find out. And, after analysing more than 800 driving games and over ten thousand achievements, which included high scores, completion times and fastest laps, we’ve got the results.
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Where Plays Home to the Best Racing Gamers: Top 15
Finland, a country with a strong culture of gaming that plays home to studios that devised the likes of the Angry Birds franchise, took the top spot with Finnish gamers having logged more high-ranking achievements per capita than any other country.
The European love for race driving that has birthed champions like Sebastien Loeb and Michael Schumacher obviously plays a part in the gaming community too, with 10 of the countries ranked in the top 15 coming from the continent. The United Kingdom just squeezed in at 15th, with Welsh gamers in particular helping the nation to rank.
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While Finland have claimed the overall crown of playing home to the best virtual drivers, what about where is best at the most popular driving games ever released?
We ran some further analysis into a selection of these games, from the Mario Kart series to the ‘real driving simulator’ Gran Turismo and while Finland does still pop up, the bragging rights are shared around the world:
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1. Finland
2. Estonia
3. New Zealand
4. Australia
5. Switzerland
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6. Sweden
7. Lithuania
8. United States of America
9. Denmark
10. Canada
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11. Uruguay
12. The Netherlands
13. Bulgaria
14. Hungary
15. United Kingdom
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Where the World’s Best Mario Kart Players Are Based
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Mario is arguably the most iconic gaming character out there, and the Mario Kart series is loved by Nintendo gamers around the world, both young and old. However, it seems Europe is again home to the very best players, with the Netherlands taking the prestigious crown of being best at Mario Kart, while overall champs Finland sneak in at fifth.
- The Netherlands
- Denmark
- Germany
- Sweden
- Finland
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Where the World’s Best Gran Turismo Players Are Based
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Interestingly, it’s a completely different story where a more hardcore driving simulator is concerned, with Americans mastering the heightened difficulty of Gran Turismo, followed by Australians and the inhabitants of New Zealand.
- The United States of America
- Australia
- New Zealand
- United Kingdom
- Russia
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Where the World’s Best F1 Players Are Based
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Again, the crown for a more simulation-based driving series leaves Europe, as while the F1 games have been developed in the UK for years, the best players are actually based in Japan. It is however good to see that the Lewis Hamiltons of the virtual world have driven the UK into the top 5 for this long-running franchise.
- Japan
- New Zealand
- Germany
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
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Where the World’s Best Simpson’s: Hit and Run Players Are Based
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We didn’t just want to stick to simulations when it came to analysing the best players of specific games though, and one heavily driving based game, although released back in 2003, is talked about so often by the gaming community, we couldn’t leave it out. It seems that the calls for a remaster of The Simpsons: Hit and Run are echoed around the world, with gamers from Finland, Australia and Canada all featuring in the top five!
- Finland
- Australia
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- United States of America
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Where the World’s Best Grand Theft Auto Players Are Based
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Finally, we wanted to look a little bit outside of pure racing games and at a series that changed the face of gaming forever: the Grand Theft Auto series. While there is much more to the games than driving, it’s always been at the core of the game, all the way from its early top-down 2D days. Fast forward to Grand Theft Auto Online, and racing is an even bigger part of the gaming experience. Estonian gamers have mastered it the most too, outranking a fully European top five, which also gives the likes of Bulgaria and Denmark a share of the spoils.
- Estonia
- Bulgaria
- Denmark
- Hungary
- Norway
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If all the virtual driving during lockdown has left you interested in a new car to take to the real roads of the country, why not browse our range of new cars, or used cars, which also take in the latest in electric technology. Or explore our current Motability offers to keep your freedom of mobility.
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Methodology
We used data from gaming leader board speedrun.com to find the highest ranking achievements logged for 801 driving video games. A first placed achievement was given 10 ‘points’, second 5 points and third 3 points. The total amount of points amounted by each country was then calculated per capita to reach the final rankings, both overall and for specific games/series. All data correct as of January 2021.
