If there is a well-known navigation application to reach our destination, whether on foot or by car, it is Google Maps. However, it is a feature that comes by default on Android phones. But Google Maps is useful for so much more: sharing locations, knowing schedules and crowds, avoiding traffic jams and optimizing fuel, finding your parking spot… and also gaming. Yes, because Japanese developer Katsuomi Kobayashi took the Google navigation app as a basis to create a driving simulator that will allow you to travel on streets around the world. This is how you can play 3D Driving Simulator on your mobile phone.

It’s relatively common to find a Google car driving around the streets updating its maps; This allows us to keep up-to-date streets, intersections, roads and other routes for a faithful and real navigation experience. This became the basis for the Katsuomi Kobayashi project, in which he developed and programmed this simulator, which can be played on devices such as mobile phones, tablets and computers because it uses the browser. You don’t need to install anything and it’s free.

How to play 3D Driving Simulator?

Although it works equally well with other browsers, you need to enter the website from Google Chrome and click ‘BEGINNING‘.

From here the options start:

• you can choose driving a bus.
• to be control camera perspectiveyou can choose whether you want it to be higher or lower (‘Tilt Up’ or ‘Tilt Down’) and whether you want the view from the back or the side (‘North Up’ or ‘Head Up’).
• You can choose from Satellite view like Google Maps or hybrid map (‘Map’, ‘Satellite’ or ‘Hybrid’).

Once you have everything, comes the most interesting part: Type where you want to go in the box in the top left. Please note that Google Maps contains maps from all over the world. You can move around your city without any problems.

After this, time to drive: on mobile the controls are the four arrows in the bottom area that move the steering wheel in the lower right corner. You can see the speed you are going in a green box. If you are doing it from a computer, you can use the keyboard keys.

The game itself consists of movingbut you don’t crash into buildings (otherwise you’ll go through them) and there’s no traffic or other cars to compete with, but driving down the streets anywhere in the world is very intriguing.

Cover | Photo by Andrea Cau on Unsplash and screenshot via Smartmockups

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