Want to see a scientist drive an arcade cabinet (Cruisin’ USA style) down the friggin’ street? This guy’s machine takes real world data from cameras attached to the front of the cabinet, turning the actual road into a virtual one in real time, allowing the driver to actually steer the car by playing the video game. Check it out.

Garnet Hertz’s video game concept car combines a car-shaped arcade game cabinet with a real world electric vehicle to produce a video game system that actually drives. OutRun offers a unique mixed reality simulation as one physically drives through an 8-bit video game. The windshield of the system features custom software that transforms the real world into an 8-bit video game, enabling the user to have limitless gameplay opportunities while driving. Hertz has designed OutRun to de-simulate the driving component of a video game: where game simulations strive to be increasingly realistic (usually focused on graphics), this system pursues “real” driving through the game. Additionally, playing off the game-like experience one can have driving with an automobile navigation system, OutRun explores the consequences of using only a computer model of the world as a navigation tool for driving.

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You’ll notice that in the virtual car there is also a hot girl in the passenger seat. Now that scientists have got the virtual driving down…