virtual driving simulator

I've been Learning To Drive for about three years now. As someone who Loves Learning and has never failed an exam ever, I've found the whole experience desperately unnerving and very inefficient.

Experienced drivers are always telling me that they don't 'think' when they're driving. That it's natural. That it just happens. And I think this is because driving is a right-brain activity. Your verbal left brain isn't sitting there going 'OK, change into second gear now, and indicate to the right and mind the pedestrian'. It's all being dealt with wordlessly by the right brain.

So what I find most difficult about learning to drive is that I'm being verbally taught (a left-brain activity) a right-brain activity.

I experience left-brain/right-brain confusion constantly in the car. I'm trying to check out the road ahead, find my gears, steer, be aware of the space all around me - using my right-brain, but my driving instructor is talking to me, forcing my left-brain to engage.

My driving instructor talks about how I need to 'find the flow' when driving. This is the creative flow I can tap into when I'm doing a right-brain activity, such as swimming, painting, or walking. But I this is also a flow that can be interrupted by having to listen to anyone talk.

When my Art teacher taught a class, she talked about the lesson for 5-10 minutes, then let us start. She did not talk to us as we tried to draw or paint. And if she stopped to ask us a question, we had to disengage, 'wake up' and use our left-brain, before trying to refocus on our art, using our right-brain.

Computer games have a similar approach. You might get instructions on how to learn at the start of a game, and you can pause for help during it, but you're left alone to switch into right-brain mode for the actual gaming experience.

Granted, mucking up a picture or losing a life in a computer game is very different to the driving scenario - I wouldn't be happy on the road if we were to simply give learner drivers a booklet and set them off on their merry way. But I imagine there's a better way of teaching learner drivers. A way of teaching learners without a constant barrage of verbal instructions.

Is the answer something like a virtual car, which lets people get in, make mistakes, and learn by experience, rather than being told. Something that lets drivers get to a certain proficiency with the actual mechanics of the car, prior to having to deal with the stress of being on a real road, with real people, and real dangers?

Airline pilots learn their basics in flight simulators. I imagine there are more learner drivers in the UK every year than learner pilots. Perhaps the government could consider supporting a virtual driving simulator. I doubt it will be ready for March 16 though, when I take my test for the first (and hopefully last) time!