Under the watchful eyes of all the viewers in her livestream, Zhang Yan’s “rehabilitation” was successfully completed.
First, she successfully drifted several circles, then successfully performed several figure-eight drifts, becoming increasingly adept at controlling this car.
“Alright, next is hitting the track!”
“I’ll start with the two simplest tracks, one circuit race and one rally.”
“Only after becoming thoroughly familiar with these two basic tracks will I qualify to challenge more difficult ones, or even take the advanced circuit and rally racing license tests.”
“Rally racing will likely be a major challenge for me. According to what I learned when taking the racing license test, I’ll first survey the track and familiarize myself with the pace notes.”
Racing on circuit tracks and rally courses naturally required different race cars, and even different tires depending on the specific racing venues, but Zhang Yan wasn’t worried at all because she had bought both types of cars.
Money allows you to do whatever you want!
After all, she had driven trucks and long-distance buses with virtually zero accidents, and after several days she had accumulated quite a bit of money. The earning speed in this game was actually quite fast.
Of course, while earning money was quick, there was no upper limit to spending. Racing was an extremely expensive activity, and only those with good results could maintain their cars with race prize money, so honing one’s driving skills became particularly important.
Zhang Yan could only say that among players who had just entered the racing realm of “Safe and Civilized Driving,” she had a relatively affluent start.
First came track reconnaissance.
In the game, track reconnaissance could be done through a free camera perspective that automatically followed the track’s route, and players could also hear pre-recorded Chinese pace notes.
These pace notes brought tears of joy to Zhang Yan’s eyes.
Nothing beats hearing your mother tongue!
In fact, all rally simulation games have pace notes because they’re absolutely essential.
Circuit racing was manageable since the routes were shorter and easier to memorize. But rally routes were often very long, and it was unrealistic to expect drivers to memorize every detail of the entire route. Since there wasn’t enough time to react when seeing a turn at high speed, co-drivers were practically indispensable.
The problem was that in foreign rally simulation games, all the pace notes were in foreign languages.
Although the vocabulary wasn’t too difficult to master, and the screen displayed various symbols representing terrain and turns, it was still challenging for non-expert Chinese players to adapt.
This was because the driver’s mind was already under intense pressure during driving. Hearing foreign pace notes required mental translation, which could easily lead to delayed reactions or, even if one understood in time, affect driving operations.
Chinese pace notes were different—being in one’s mother tongue, they didn’t interfere with driving operations at all.
Zhang Yan used the free camera view to examine the track she would be racing on over and over, making an effort to memorize the details: where the high-difficulty turns were, where slopes or pits were located—she needed to be as familiar as possible with everything.
Although pace notes were available, she couldn’t rely on them completely.
She didn’t dare to be careless, because in this game, damaged cars genuinely needed repairs, and repairing a race car was much more expensive than repairing an ordinary family car!
Although race cars generally had better safety measures, reducing the possibility of personal injury, repair costs and medical expenses could still be unbearable.
After reviewing several times, Zhang Yan mentally rehearsed the track map again before slowly setting off in her car.
She didn’t dare drive fast; for the first few laps, she didn’t even attempt to drift. She just honestly proceeded at what she considered the safest speed, crawling forward and taking turns with normal deceleration.
On some high-difficulty sharp turns, viewers felt as if she was about to stop the car, crawling through at a snail’s pace.
Her first lap resulted in a time three times the standard lap time.
Zhang Yan didn’t mind and continued driving in this manner, only silently increasing her speed in places where she felt confident.
The bullet comments were full of jokes:
“Goodness, you call this racing? Are you practicing health preservation?”
“Crawling through the entire course at a snail’s pace—I think even I could do that.”
“Doesn’t the streamer know how to drift? After drifting circles and figure-eights for so long, I thought she would show off some skills on the track, but she doesn’t dare to drift at all…”
“You just don’t understand. Sometimes proper racing lines are faster than your immature drifting. Don’t think you’re great just because you can drift. Often drifting is just for show, not necessarily for speed.”
“Indeed, different turns require different approaches. Thinking about drifting every time you see a turn is foolish behavior.”
“But no matter how slow it should be, it should still be faster than the streamer, right? The streamer’s ‘excellent result’ of three times the standard lap time is quite something.”
“The streamer is being steady, understand? Steady! What’s this game called? ‘Safe and Civilized Driving’! First ensure your own safety, then pursue speed. Otherwise, if you crash, are you going to pay the repair costs for the streamer? Even with multiple lives, you can’t be that reckless.”
“After watching the streamer’s racing method, I suddenly understand! It turns out racing isn’t difficult—I think I could do it too! I’m going to get a racing license right now!”
The bullet comments were lively, but Zhang Yan was completely unfazed and continued practicing diligently.
She was well aware that her current driving method appeared extremely slow, like a turtle crawling.
There was a significant difference between driving in a game and driving in reality. In real life, drivers could sense speed through multiple dimensions: G-forces, sound, vibration, and more. In a game, speed could only be perceived through visuals and sound.
Even with a G-force seat, it was still incomparable to real-life experience.
Therefore, many novice drivers in real life might feel they’re going fast at 70-80 km/h, but in a game, that speed feels like a crawl. You might need to reach 200 km/h in-game to feel any excitement.
This was why other racing games ultimately created a sense of “flying on land.” Without reaching that level, they simply couldn’t provide effective excitement for players.
But “Safe and Civilized Driving” was different—even driving at 70-80 km/h felt exciting.
Mainly because you couldn’t afford the repair costs if you crashed!
The livestream viewers couldn’t feel this, but Zhang Yan was very clear about it.
But explaining this was pointless—one had to experience it personally to understand. So Zhang Yan didn’t explain much and simply drove her car methodically. She wanted to progress gradually and improve her lap times, not cause an accident due to impatience.
Although a crash might create entertaining content, each collision meant spending money on repairs, and running out of money meant going back to driving trucks for cargo… which was clearly not worth it in the long run.
Zhang Yan patiently drove lap after lap, improving her times. Though still far from the standard lap time, she was getting better with each lap compared to her previous results.
…
…
January 28th, Monday.
Early in the morning, Ye Zhizhou went to find Hu Xianbin to discuss matters related to “Safe and Civilized Driving.”
In the large office area, most people were busy working, yet Hu Xianbin was yawning at his desk, appearing idle.
The position across from him was empty.
Ye Zhizhou was surprised: “Mr. Ma didn’t come today?”
Hu Xianbin nodded: “Yes, he hasn’t been here since last Friday. Mr. Ma said he was going into seclusion to write his graduation thesis and wouldn’t be coming in for the near future. He told me to handle things on my own.”
Ye Zhizhou: “…”
Well, well, a vice president abandoning work for a graduation thesis?
The whole situation felt somewhat absurd.
Fortunately, before leaving, Mr. Ma had handed over all his work to Hu Xianbin, so operations weren’t affected.
“I’m here mainly to convey Mr. Pei’s intentions. For the subsequent operation and promotion of ‘Safe and Civilized Driving,’ we need Bunny Tail Livestream’s cooperation,” said Ye Zhizhou.
Hu Xianbin nodded: “No problem, we can cooperate in any way. Just tell me what you need.”
Ye Zhizhou thought for a moment: “First, give me a brief overview of the current livestreaming situation for ‘Safe and Civilized Driving’ on Bunny Tail. After all, what players say and what they think might be different, and I don’t want to misjudge.”
Hu Xianbin immediately pulled up some backend data and began analyzing.
Both being game designers, they naturally understood what the other was thinking.
Ye Zhizhou wanted to verify some of his conjectures and ideas through livestream popularity, to understand players’ true mindsets.
Although many player discussions about “Safe and Civilized Driving” could be found on forums, revealing player attitudes toward the game, this alone wasn’t enough.
Many players were hypocritical—verbally expressing dislike for certain settings while actually enjoying them immensely.
Moreover, placing too much emphasis on online opinions might ignore the silent majority, leading to misjudgment of the situation.
Livestream data, on the other hand, could better reflect players’ true attitudes.