A perfectly good racing game had been transformed into a game of suffering.

Zhang Yan wasn’t willing to give up. She refused to admit defeat and tried several other approaches.

She tried using the keyboard and controller but ultimately returned to the steering wheel.

Because using the keyboard and controller was even harder!

Of course, as a qualified racing game, “Safe and Civilized Driving” had properly calibrated keyboard and controller inputs to enable players to better control their vehicles.

This was a fundamental optimization that all racing games must implement, because keyboards and controllers lack the precision of a steering wheel. For instance, with a keyboard, there are only four possible inputs: hard left, hard right, pedal to the metal, or full brake. In such cases, if you want to make precise turns or drift, you must rely on the game’s own optimizations to make button presses more easily achieve the player’s true intentions.

But even with these optimizations, it was still extremely difficult!

Because this was the subject two exam, not regular road driving.

Roads are spacious, and as long as you follow traffic rules and lane markings, there’s no major issue. But subject two requires high-precision vehicle control.

Never mind newcomers—many veteran drivers with years of experience who suddenly have to retake subject two would also struggle to adapt immediately. At most, they would become familiar with it much faster than newcomers, but this familiarization process couldn’t be skipped.

Could you pass the subject two exam in “Safe and Civilized Driving” using a keyboard or controller?

Yes, but it required exceptionally good driving skills.

Take reverse parking as an example—you needed to carefully observe the rearview mirrors, predict the wheels’ trajectory, and make fine adjustments to that trajectory.

Just the “fine adjustments” alone would discourage many impatient players.

Because making fine adjustments with a keyboard or controller was much more difficult than with a steering wheel.

The methods taught in driving schools were actually test-oriented approaches. Most students never truly mastered the principles of reverse parking; they just relied on memorizing those markings. When it came to real life, many people still depended on their car’s backup camera.

In the game, reverse parking had none of those reference markings, so it all came down to the player’s raw skill.

Of course, perhaps considering how difficult this operation truly was, the game developers maintained a certain degree of mercy toward players: they could choose to use alternative camera angles to pass the driver’s license test, such as a rear-vehicle view.

This significantly reduced the difficulty.

But Zhang Yan refused to admit defeat—she was determined to complete the exam using the in-car view!

After all, in reality, there’s no such thing as a rear-vehicle view.

Moreover, some people who had already passed the driving test were sharing their experiences online. According to them, the system recorded which device and camera angle you used to pass the test. In-car view and rear-vehicle view were recorded as two different achievements.

Obviously, passing the driving test with the in-car view carried more prestige.

Zhang Yan continued trying relentlessly, unyielding in her determination.

Fortunately, this was a game, not reality. She didn’t need to repeatedly schedule tests; if she failed subject two, she could keep retaking it until she passed.

As the voice saying “Test failed, please try again” continued to sound, Zhang Yan felt her driving skills improving bit by bit. Many concepts from her real driving test came back to her, and much of her muscle memory was rekindled.

Finally, after six or seven attempts, she successfully passed subject two!

What surprised her was that the seemingly easy parts of the driving test actually gave her the most trouble—such as right-angle turns and S-curves. During her actual driving test, she had simply memorized the reference points, but now without those points to follow, she found herself struggling. One small mistake and she’d cross the line.

After subject two came subjects three and four.

Subject three was much simpler—just normal road driving, following on-screen instructions to make left and right turns, change lanes, and perform corresponding operations. Even with a keyboard or controller, it shouldn’t be too difficult—much easier than subject two.

After subject three came subject four, which covered safe and civilized driving along with road traffic regulations.

The game had actually combined subjects one and four, and these test sections weren’t called subject two, subject three, and subject four, but rather “Field Driving Skills Test,” “Road Driving Skills Test,” and “Traffic Rules and Safe Driving Knowledge.”

The number of questions had also been reduced to just 50.

This was probably to streamline the game flow. Otherwise, if players had to start by passing subject one, the gaming experience would be terrible.

After all, many players had never studied for subject one in the first place and would need to either brush up on questions or search online, which would make for a poor experience. Even experienced drivers who could easily pass subject one would find answering so many questions severely impacted their gaming experience.

Even after the reduction, there were still 50 questions!

Starting with subjects two and three at least meant players were actually driving.

But Zhang Yan seriously doubted whether this approach was effective or might actually backfire. Passing subject two was far more difficult than simply memorizing questions for subjects one and four!

Was putting subject two first really not meant to discourage players?

Regardless, she had finally obtained her driver’s license!

Zhang Yan let out a deep breath, genuinely feeling a sense of accomplishment.

This sense of accomplishment naturally couldn’t compare to the feeling of passing subject four in real life and getting an actual driver’s license—after all, this was just a game—but it still gave her a very special feeling.

Her confidence had reached unprecedented heights!

Because real-life driver’s license tests involved a certain degree of “teaching to the test,” many subjects were passed through rote memorization, whereas the tests in “Safe and Civilized Driving” were passed through pure skill.

Therefore, even after passing a real driving test, one might still feel uncertain about actually hitting the road and might need an experienced driver’s company.

But in the game, Zhang Yan felt completely confident—she could definitely drive safely on the road!

After getting her license, Zhang Yan received 240,000 in startup funds in the game, which she could use to freely purchase a family car.

Looking at her options, Zhang Yan noticed the selection wasn’t as rich as in real life. About 70% were fictional brands, though she could vaguely recognize their real-world counterparts. The remaining 30% were existing brands that had obviously been licensed, but they were predominantly domestic car manufacturers, with only a few foreign brands, none of which were particularly famous.

When selecting vehicles, there weren’t the bar graphs showing parameters like handling and acceleration that other games typically displayed to clearly and intuitively present information—instead, the game used real-world car buying parameter data.

Of course, limited by price, these models were basically all family sedans and SUVs without any sports cars, and they all looked rather similar.

With a budget of 240,000, the number of available models was neither too many nor too few.

And it was better not to spend all of the 240,000. The official tips mentioned that money could be earned later, but the account must maintain some funds for emergencies, such as traffic violation fines and accident compensation. There was a certain credit limit and grace period for repayment, but ultimately debts had to be paid.

Zhang Yan felt her indecisiveness kicking in.

When the budget is sufficient, there’s less need to be picky—you can just buy those classic models from well-known brands, and they won’t be too bad in any aspect. But when the budget falls just short, it becomes awkward because no matter how much you search, these models will always have some minor flaws.

Either insufficient power, slightly worse safety features, or unattractive appearance… With an insufficient budget, it was impossible to have everything, which only exacerbated Zhang Yan’s indecisiveness.

“The Mini神? Wow, I really want to buy this one—it’s so small, which must make parking easy, and the fully loaded version is only about 40,000!”

“But if I buy this car, will it affect the subsequent gameplay? It’s cheap, yes, but the performance seems too weak.”

“Nevermind, I should consider a more reliable option.”

“Hmm? Isn’t this the Passat from Da Zhong? The price is quite reasonable—the new business edition starts at 190,000, and with insurance and miscellaneous expenses, it’s just within budget, leaving a little money for emergencies.”

“I’ll take it!”

After looking at several models, including some new energy vehicles, Zhang Yan finally chose the currently well-regarded Passat as her first car.

Of course, it wasn’t called by that name in the game, and the logo had been slightly modified, but she could roughly tell what it was based on.

Although this car might not seem suitable for a female driver, she’d heard that you could earn money as a ride-share driver in the game, and this car would be perfect for that.

If she had bought the Mini神, it might have been fun to drive herself, but would the ride-share fees be very low?

If she earned less money for the same distance, that would be awkward.

Moreover, the Mini神 was ultimately too cheap, so its safety features wouldn’t be very good. She wouldn’t dare take it on the highway for long trips later.

After all, in this game, driving was both work and entertainment. For her first car, she prioritized meeting work needs, ensuring a certain level of business functionality and safety. After saving some money, she could pursue higher aspirations.

After choosing various options and paint according to her preferences, she could immediately hit the road.

The license plate was automatically installed, and players were allowed to customize it freely, using any province, letters, and numbers they wanted.

It had to be said, this was a game after all, and this aspect was very convenient. It even gave Zhang Yan an “is it really this smooth?” feeling.

On second thought, shouldn’t it be? This was just a game!

Perhaps because the earlier driver’s license test was so torturous, even slightly more convenient features later on filled Zhang Yan with gratitude.

After hitting the road, Zhang Yan’s first feeling was: awesome!

This feeling was very different from other racing games.

Other racing games start with road racing right away—thrilling, yes, but the subsequent experience doesn’t improve much beyond more complex tracks and faster opponents.

But “Safe and Civilized Driving” was different. The first time on the road after getting a license brought a strange sense of nervousness and uncertainty, and after driving for a while, she hadn’t bumped into anything once!

It’s worth noting that in other games, minor scrapes and bumps were inevitable for Zhang Yan.