If you recall
my initial impressions of the Toyota Prius (a car I never imagined I'd buy but now love), I dubbed it a good choice for gamers for several reasons - most notably that you could try to get a "high score" by driving in ways that maximize its battery and fuel economy.
It's been nearly six months and I have refined my technique in a manner that very similar to playing a console game, albeit one with very unresponsive controls. I use the car's built-in digital stick controller: cruise control.
It's worth noting that when I bought the car, I averaged 42 mpg. Since then, it has waned as low as 34 mpg - and usually averages around 36-38. This is due in part to maintenance factors that reduce mileage and the fact that I do more city driving than highway. I bought a $10 tire pump so I can more easily inflate my tires to their ideal levels, which does help improve mileage. I also finally took it in for its first oil change and tire rotation, which should make a difference too. But those aren't fun, unless you're the type who likes to endlessly tweak your car alignment settings in Forza Motorsport.
I learned to turn the game around in a more interactive way. When you run the car on cruise control, you might think that you're ceding the car's fuel economy to a computer. And that is true to a point. The computer is seemingly programmed to maximize your mileage by braking and burning gas only as much as needed to maintain your selected speed. But you can influence this game by mastering the cruise control stick's advanced capabilities.
Once you push the button to enable cruise control and push down on the stick to select your current speed, you could just, well, cruise. But you can also tap up on the stick to increase your cruising speed by 1 mph, or tap down to reduce it. I find that if I find myself catching up to the car ahead of me gradually, I can reduce my speed with a few taps until I hit the same speed and can hold a safe distance. Dropping speed also sends your gas mileage through the roof (often to the screen display's max of 100 mpg) which brings up your average over time. Dropping speed when going up a hill can also balance out your fuel consumption, and speeding up when coasting down an incline - even a slight one - can boost your cruising speed with little to no additional fuel cost. If you need to significantly adjust your speed, you can speed up or slow down and then tap down on the stick when you're ready to lock it in.
Now, speed adjustments made with the cruise control stick can sometimes take several seconds, so there are times when you'll have to take back control or risk an accident. The stick is no subsitute for your own reaction time, and you have to take care that you keep you and your passengers safe at all times; not crashing is always more important than a little gas mileage improvement. That said, it can be fun to watch your average gas mileage creep up over several days or even just an hour or two of highway driving.
You can always cheat by resetting your gas mileage stats when you fill up your tank, particularly before a long road trip. (Mileage is always best on a full tank, and even better on the open highway.) But where's the fun in that unless you're the type who spawn camps in first-person shooters. I much prefer to hit rock bottom with a well-worn cumulative average and then work my way back up.
It's also worth noting that you can play Mileage Master with any car that has cruise control and an in-dash, real-time mileage calculator. Just remember to play it safe - no matter how close you are to a high score. There are no extra lives in this game. But if you do get a high score, you'll save a few dollars at the pump and possibly - if enough of us eventually play - the planet..
-=Gamewatcher
If you want to check out the Xbox 360 game community and its seven game previews, you need to act now. The launcher will no longer be offered after midnight Tuesday and the demos will all expire March 9. After that, you can forget all about that whole "YouTube for games" thing until the real XNA Community launch, rumored to be six or so months away. 