Home Gaming Where are the seat belts in games?

Where are the seat belts in games?

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FINAL FANTASY XV 20161205192142

I didn’t grow up in a car culture city. I grew up taking buses, subways, trains and occasionally taxis, never using a seatbelt in any of those vehicles. However, whenever I was in a passenger car or a plane, I’d buckle my seatbelt. It wasn’t negotiable, it wasn’t up for discussion – get in, buckle up. To this day, the first thing I do when getting into any car is to buckle my seat belt. It’s so automatic that it feels strange if I don’t do it when on game drives or other seat belt-less experiences, which is why it’s so weird that it’s still missing from games.

Having sunk so many hours into Final Fantasy XV to get my platinum trophy, I spent a lot of time watching those pretty boys drive around, and it became a serious pet peeve of mine. Sure, the team of pretty boy friends can take on insanely powerful enemies, dash around the battlefield and survive some insane amounts of damage, but does that mean they’re immune from damage if that fancy car of theirs crashed into another vehicle? They would all be thrown out of that pretty convertible, most likely needing a phoenix down upon impact with the ground.

Watch dogs 2 bike

But Final Fantasy XV isn’t the only game I’ve been playing that’s guilty. Watch Dogs 2 is a fantastic game that I finished over the weekend. I loved a lot about the game, but the driving stuff really irked me. Ride a motorcyle without a helmet, or a car without a seat belt? And it’s not just Marcus who is irresponsible with this stuff. There’s a side quest system where you work as a sort of Uber driver, picking up passengers and driving them around the San Francisco area to where they need to be. And yet, neither Marcus nor his passengers ever put on a seatbelt. (Don’t be fooled by some images, the strap you see across Marcus is actually his laptop bag.)

I know this is silly – we only recently have games where characters walk realistically, where faces actually move appropriately when they talk and they can open and close doors without looking like something out of a horror movie. I know this isn’t a major feat of gaming, or of the greatest importance, but it still irritates me. Most characters get into the car and put the radio on. How hard would it be to add an animation showing a quick buckle up? At least then it would explain why no one ever takes any damage even while bashing into all the things during a heated car chase.

I’m not the only one who’s annoyed. A mod for Grand Theft Auto V adds in seatbelts- if only to stop players from hurtling in to the distance on impact.

Some things are simply normal in our daily lives, they ground us even when everything else seems unreal. I can suspend my disbelieve and accept that a royal prince can fight monsters and warp around the battlefield. I can suspend my disbelief and accept that hacking is simply a matter of solving bathing puzzles. Please don’t also make me suspend my disbelief and assume that physics in the game world don’t exist, that a car crash wouldn’t kill the protagonist, that somehow even luxury cars in that world don’t have basic safety restraints. Besides, think of the positive impact games could have if everyone buckled up; imagine if that saved someone’s life when they did the same in real life.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: January 17, 2017

53 Comments

  1. Raptor Rants

    January 17, 2017 at 14:10

    I get it if the game is about realism. You see seatbelts racing sims and the like.
    When it comes to a game where the characters are doing things no ordinary humans would be able to anyway then it kind of becomes pointless to add something like that isn’t it?

    Reply

    • Ghost In The Rift

      January 17, 2017 at 14:18

      Agreed, supposed its all up to the type of genre and if its relevant or in case of games like GTA pointless.

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      January 17, 2017 at 14:31

      Spot on

      Reply

    • HvR

      January 17, 2017 at 14:45

      Ever since Need for Speed nitroboosted a Tesla they can be “forgiven” for shackling any of their games with realities of car crashes.

      Reply

  2. Ir0nseraph

    January 17, 2017 at 14:17

    I must be honest, I am busy with watch dogs 2 and the fact that there is no seat belt animation doesn’t really bother me, and if it’s added I don’t think it will change much for me, except if it’s a slow animation that delays my getaway.

    Reply

  3. Ottokie

    January 17, 2017 at 14:17

    While I was playing FF15, I kinda wondered why the press have not jumped on that bandwagon already xD

    Reply

    • Raptor Rants

      January 17, 2017 at 14:20

      No please. Asking the question is one thing. But having this turn in to some social issue about advocating safety blablabla… There are other avenues for that. Gaming where you are encouraged to jump off cliff faces, drive at the speed of light, shooty mac shoot face everything in sight is not the place for this.

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        January 17, 2017 at 14:22

        shooty mac shoot face… the guy from Borderlands 2? xD

        Reply

        • Raptor Rants

          January 17, 2017 at 14:23

          That’s where I got it! Thank you! It’s been bugging me a few days.

          Reply

          • Ottokie

            January 17, 2017 at 14:23

            lol

            Okie dokie, glad I could be of help.

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      January 17, 2017 at 14:21

      Because wagons don’t have seat belts.

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        January 17, 2017 at 14:27

        then why do they need stations!?

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          January 17, 2017 at 14:37

          Because they stand still while looking for something to write with!

          Reply

    • Zoe Hawkins

      January 17, 2017 at 14:29

      Was SO apparently for me in FFXV seeing as there was a whole getting into and out of the car animation anyway – why not add buckling up comments from Ignis or at least the animation when they got in and out?

      Reply

  4. Geoffrey Tim

    January 17, 2017 at 14:18

    Zoe…asking the important questions.

    Reply

  5. Unavengedavo

    January 17, 2017 at 14:24

    I have a cousin that use to do crazy stuff, and never drove with a seat belt. Years later she had her 1st kid and everything changed, she started to see the danger in everything and never drove without a seat belt.

    Don’t worry Zoe, I know where this article is coming from. This is your Mommy brain writing O_o

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      January 17, 2017 at 14:28

      You are back!?

      Reply

    • Raptor Rants

      January 17, 2017 at 14:30

      huh. YOu make a good point. I was just as paranoid when my kid was born. In fact, now that I think about it, I put my seatbelt on just reversing my car out the garage…..

      Reply

  6. Admiral Chief

    January 17, 2017 at 14:32

    Parents that don’t buckle up their kids, or allow them to stand in the middle etc, should be shot

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      January 17, 2017 at 14:33

      This ^ And the one thing that really pisses me off, is when you tell them to buckle their kids up they retort with ‘don’t tell me how to bring up my kid!’

      Reply

      • Raptor Rants

        January 17, 2017 at 14:54

        Just reply “No, I’m telling you how not to kill your kid”

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          January 17, 2017 at 16:14

          Or reply with “No, I am only trying to prevent you from picking up your kid over there a bit, and over here a bit, and again over there a tiny bit… And bring a spade we need to scrape him from this bit…”

          Reply

          • Raptor Rants

            January 17, 2017 at 16:17

            Wow….. That… Yeah ok but you have a point

          • Dutch Matrix

            January 18, 2017 at 07:41

            I have traveled these roads for close to 15 years now. I have seen some wrecks that makes the blood freeze…

    • Ir0nseraph

      January 17, 2017 at 14:34

      I second this motion.

      Reply

    • HvR

      January 17, 2017 at 14:37

      And people excusing this behaviour by stating it is an economics issue should get a snotklap as well.

      Freaking kiddy seat at Baby Boom is half the price of a tank of petrol of a family sedan. Cleaned and sterilized one at 2nd hand shop baby shops are half that price.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        January 17, 2017 at 14:45

        That is on list of top 10 reasons to lose my shit, is to people like this

        Reply

      • Raptor Rants

        January 17, 2017 at 14:54

        Yeah it pisses me off no end. Not only that but if you can afford to have a baby then you can afford to buy less stuff for yourself and provide for the life you brought in to life if money is an issue.

        Having a kid and expecting the same type of lifestyle you had before money wise is just plain idiotic.

        Reply

      • miaau

        January 17, 2017 at 14:58

        yeah, we have 4 car seats (two kids, one baby, one toddler), two of them were under R 1000, but still damn good seats, i.e.. safety profiles and so on.

        Reply

  7. DrKiller

    January 17, 2017 at 14:40

    First World Problems…

    Reply

  8. K1FF J1MB0B (sizzle edition)

    January 17, 2017 at 14:43

    It’s called escaping reality. When I’m playing a game I don’t want or need to be reminded about the real dangers that people face each day. If this bothers you then how are you OK with a video game character killing thousands of people during their fun adventure?

    Reply

  9. Admiral Chief

    January 17, 2017 at 14:46

    Seat belts and HEY COUSIN WANNA GO BOWLING should not be in games

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      January 17, 2017 at 16:15

      I have cousins. They never invite me anywhere. So at least Rockstar got that right in GTA V…

      Reply

  10. miaau

    January 17, 2017 at 14:54

    I do not recall ever stopping at traffic lights or stop sign in GTA V or most other games, either. I just gun it as fast as possible, drive on whichever side of the road feels the best for the next corner and go.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      January 17, 2017 at 16:12

      And sorry for the poor soul that wandered into my way…

      Reply

  11. Dutch Matrix

    January 17, 2017 at 15:33

    Oh Dear Lord! It is called a GAME! Not an imitation of real life!!!! If you are dumb enough to drive without a seat belt in real life then you deserve to be splattered all over the N3 north!

    Reply

    • miaau

      January 17, 2017 at 15:43

      that’s a far way to drive just to get splattered, you know.

      Reply

      • Dutch Matrix

        January 17, 2017 at 16:09

        Oh I drive that road every bloody day. And people wonder why I am the way I am…

        Reply

  12. HvR

    January 17, 2017 at 15:50

    Just saw this and thought it ties in nicely with this article
    http://boingboing.net/2017/01/16/make-driving-safer-by-replacin.html

    Reply

  13. 40 Insane Frogs

    January 17, 2017 at 16:15

    Just imagine if every time you had to endure the scene wher Noctis climbed into the backseat, Ignis would reprimand him for not wearing his seatbelt. It would have become drinking night fodder…

    I’m only on Chapter 4 now, but I would have snapped the disk in half and set my PS4 on fire.

    Reply

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