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Did My New Chair Make Me Better at Racing Games?

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A PlayStation Dualshock 4 controller, much like the one I held while desperately hoping my new desk chair would make me better at racing games.
Photo: pxfuel via DMCA

Last week, I embarked on a journey of self-discovery to see if my new desk chair from GTRACING could improve my typically dismal performance in racing games. In order to evaluate my skills, I selected specific missions in three different games: Forza Horizon 3 on Xbox One, Need for Speed Payback on PlayStation 4, and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit on PlayStation 3. You can read all about my methodology here.

And now, the results.


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Need for Speed Payback

After working through the interminably long prologue, I decided to test my skills on one of Payback’s early campaign missions — a race called “The Graveyard Shift.” Here’s how my performance stacked up from my old chair to my new one:

Old Chair

  • Race one: Finished third. Total time: 1 minute, 45 seconds.
  • Race two: Finished first. Total time: 1 minute, 42 seconds.
  • Race three: Finished first. Total time: 1 minute, 49 seconds
  • Average time: 105.3 seconds.

New Chair

  • Race one: Finished first. Total time: 1 minute, 41 seconds.
  • Race two: Finished first. Total time: 1 minute, 50 seconds.
  • Race three: Finished first. Total time: 1 minute, 44 seconds.
  • Average time: 105 seconds.

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit

After taking a moment to reacclimate myself with the console controls for Hot Pursuit, I sat down to traverse the “Roadsters Reborn” mission six times. Here’s what happened:  

Old Chair:

  • Race one: Finished first. Total time: 4 minutes, 2 seconds.
  • Race two: Finished first. Total time: 3 minutes, 58 seconds.
  • Race three: Finished first. Total time: 3 minutes, 51 seconds.
  • Average time: 236.6 seconds.

New Chair

  • Race one: Finished first. Total time: 4 minutes, 11 seconds.
  • Race two: Finished first. Total time: 3 minutes, 48 seconds.
  • Race three: Finished second. Total time: 4 minutes, 2 seconds.
  • Average time: 240 seconds.

Forza Horizon 3

On the off chance that you thought my numerous first-place rankings in the previous two games indicated any type of skill, my performance in Forza Horizon 3’s “Three Bridge Circuit” race should put that idea to rest.

Old chair

  • Race one: Finished 10th. Total time: 2 minutes, 36 seconds.
  • Race two: Finished 11th. Total time: 2 minutes, 35 seconds.
  • Race three: Finished second. Total time: 2 minutes, 21 seconds.
  • Average time: 150.6 seconds

New chair

  • Race one: Finished first. Total time: 2 minutes, 22 seconds.
  • Race two: Finished second. Total time: 2 minutes, 27 seconds.
  • Race three: Finished first. Total time: 2 minutes, 21 seconds.
  • Average time: 143.3 seconds.

Takeaways

A representation of the math I did to see if my new chair made me better at racing games
Photo: Elchinator via Pixabay License

Looking at these numbers, we can draw several interesting conclusions. The first is that my average course time was better in the new chair than the old one for two out of three tests. The second is that, after averaging out my total time across all three games, I performed roughly 1.4 seconds better in my GTRRACING seat.

That having been said, I also scored my worst individual times in both Need for Speed games while sitting in the new desk chair. Plus, an overall average difference of just 1.4 seconds isn’t exactly earth-shattering.

So, while the math technically says I’m better at racing when utilizing my new purchase, I’m not convinced. What I can say definitively, though, is that its lumbar support is a legitimate game-changer.


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