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Tech

Attempt to Text and Drive in 'SMS Racing,' a VR Game and Public Safety Statement

Not as serious as Werner Herzog, but it gets the point across.

More than nine people are killed and more than 1,153 people are injured every day in car crashes that involve a driver who's texting, using his phone, eating, or is otherwise distracted, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It's a huge and deadly problem that's a better fit for a sobering Werner Herzog documentary than a video game. Developer Turbo Button decided to tackle the subject in virtual reality, however, and it looks like it did a brilliant job.

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SMS Racing may seem like just another racing game, but you'll also have to respond to every text message you receive within 10 seconds. Since the game is developed for Samsung's GearVR headset, you'll have to literally take your eyes off the road and look down to respond by entering a randomized set of keys mapped to your controller.

This, as you can imagine, inevitably leads to car crashes. You can even see how poorly other players are multi-tasking, weaving through traffic, with a little icon that appears above their cars indicating that they're looking down at their phones.

Racing SMS was created under a tight deadline for Mobile VR Jam 2015, a contest sponsored by Oculus VR, makers of the Oculus Rift headset. It's nothing too ambitious, but like any interesting virtual reality experience to date, it's a great little idea because it takes advantage of features unique to the device. In this case it's the simple ability to look down, which makes for funny accidents in a game, but is also a good reminder that no, you can't pull off texting and driving in real life, no matter how good at it you think you are.

Turbo Button is a small team in Los Angeles that focuses on accessible virtual reality experiences. One of the studio's developers, Holden Link, previously created A Night at the Roculus, and he was on the VR for Indies panel at the Game Developers Conference this year to discuss his approach to VR development.

If you have a GearVR, you can grab SMS racing for free here. You can also get a non-VR version of the game Link created for Ludum Dare 27.