"Surgeons who played videogames were faster and made fewer mistakes"
Videogames can even save lives on the operating table. As reported by an article in the New York Times, a study carried out in 2004 concluded that "surgeons who played video games for at least three hours a week were 27 percent faster and made 37 percent fewer mistakes than surgeons who did not play video games". The co-author of the report, Manhattan based Dr Rosser Jr, has ninja skills in laparoscopic surgery (that's the fiddly type) and liked to "warm up" before operating with a few rounds of Super Monkey Ball. True story - you can read the New York Times article right here.
"The driving skills I learned in Gran Turismo paid off big time"
A contributor going by the online handle of DJuxtaposition submitted his own tale of 'How Videogames Saved My Life' to community site Everything2. He tells how driving skills learnt in Gran Turismo threw him a lifeline when a collision with a grasshopper sent his vehicle off-road. Here's a slightly abridged version of DJuxtaposition's dramatic, game-aided escape.
"I was driving along at a fair clip and I noticed a grasshopper on my windshield. This wasn't uncommon, but while I was using my wipers to try to swipe at it and convince it to go about its business, I drove off the road... whoops.
"I was going down an incline into a big ditch type thing, and my rear wheels slipped out from under me. My car was sliding to the point where it was perpendicular to the road. A barbed wire fence and a tree were coming dangerously close to wrecking me for good. I eased on the brakes and turned into, then out of the slide. I came to a stop parallel to the road, looked up to see if any cars were coming, and then got back on the road and proceeded.
"I don't exactly remember the details, but I do remember thinking, as I was bringing my unruly vehicle under control, 'Hey, this is like that time in Gran Turismo where I was coming off the ramp and I slid into the grass. Cool.' And I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but the guy in the passenger seat swears I did it all with one hand."
There you go. Gran Turismo can save lives with one-hand tied behind his back.
