Does playing racing games with a wheel and pedals affect your real-world driving?

Having done a lot of driving various racing games with a wheel and pedals, I'd say "it depends".

Pro:

• The game can give you experience in scenarios that are rare in real life, but where a split-second decision can mean the difference between walking or driving away - or worse. For example, Grand Prix Legends gave me experience and confidence that I could then apply to winter driving. The "natural" reaction in a skid or slide is to hit the brakes, which only makes things worse. Instead, a gentle counter-steer and judicious use of the throttle (and maybe a touch of trail-braking - but just dragging the pads, not stomping on it!) will keep you on the arc of the corner and in control of the vehicle. (See "four-wheel drift")
• In general, the games will teach you to anticipate and "look ahead" for trouble. A common problem with most real-life drivers is that they only look at the car in front of them. Instead, you should be looking as much as 1/4 to 1/2 mile down the road - through the car in front of you. This is especially crucial at higher speeds.

Con:

• Things will normally happen a lot faster and with greater intensity in the game than in real life. The problem comes when you start to crave or seek that intensity.
• Related to the previous point, in most games the goal is to drive as fast as you can and there are no significant consequences for the minute mistakes that such speed is bound to produce. In real life the consequences are much more dire and there's no "Restart" option.

I'd say that, if you find yourself starting down the path toward problems - driving aggressively, regularly exceeding the speed limit, etc., you need to take a careful look at yourself. In my personal opinion, racing games have made me a better driver. But then, I don't text or talk on the phone (except with a hands-free setup), drive at excessive speeds, etc. The influence of the games has been on my observation and anticipation of trouble ahead, and knowing with some degree of confidence how to handle that trouble.

There are two main things to consider when comparing real driving and game driving.

The first is that there is feedback from the car through the steering wheel and suspension about what the car is doing in response to your actions. Even with power steering there is resistance to turning which you need to overcome - unless you have very good force-feedback wheel you're not going to get that effect from a game.

The second is the actual motion of the car both forwards and around corners. Your body is very good at detecting this and compensating. Even with the best simulators the effect isn't quite the same so unless you are totally immersed in the simulation you will be able to tell you're not really moving at high speed around a track.

On BBC's Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson set a laptime in Gran Turismo and tried to beat it (or even match it) in real life; on the same track and in the same car. He was unable to even get very close to his game-time, highlighting the differences between racing games/sims and real-world driving.