EA free petrol stunt triggers north London gridlock

Proof that video games encourage violence!

With all those irate drivers and local residents, proof at last, games trigger violence.

Given current petrol costs?

Surely no matter what the current petrol costs are, £40 of petrol is going to be £40 of petrol??

@pctechxp

Umm...how?

We all know we pay too much fuel duty, but this is just evidence of man's bacis want of something for nothing!

Paris because...errr...she could pay for the fuel? (Look, it's been a tough day...)

Why is I hate London so much?

With that and the fights over a sale at IKEA a couple of years back, I reckon you should just get the video cameras out in London, spend a bit of money on a promotion like this and have a more middle class London version of that Bumfights video.

No

It shows there will always be* people willing to fight for a free lunch

What is more interesting is if the `net cost' ** to the economy of the gridlock exceeds the value of the `free petrol'.

*(Insert derogatory remark of your choice)

** (these figures always sell a little out of thin air to me)

In fact

In fact, given the cost of Petrol, £40 of petrol is actually about 20% LESS petrol than it was before.

And don't get me started on the fuel duty thing. If Brown lowers duty, the price goes down. This means more people now can afford petrol. Supply and demand forces price back up. Voila, price is what it was before but the government now has less to spend on roads.

Retards!

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"Given current petrol costs"

... £40 worth of petrol must like... a teaspoonful?

This is the best proof of collective unintelligence I've ever heard.

I mean, seriously. We're all panicking about how little fuel we get for our money, then we all go rushing out to wait a traffic jam for £40 quid's worth?

Collective logic failure here somewhere.

I used to live round there;

and its fair to say the locals would queue for £40-worth of manure, never mind petrol.

That being said, the next time anyones planning on giving away fuel in the Birmingham area, please let me know ;-)

And @ Richard Kilpatrick, absolutely correct mate; every car has a different 'economical speed'. Ive had cars where its been 85mph, and others where its been 50mph. Can everyone PLEASE stop quoting 55/56mph as the universal magic figure; it was pulled from the bums of American politicians in the 1970s.

There is life outside the M25

Always in Fakkin Landan

@RK

"Modern large cars are designed with modern large car driving habits in mind :)"

Like breaking the speed limit and then complaining about speed cameras?

@Yes, but did anyone get the free fuel?

13,000 got the fuel.

FAO Richard Kilpatrick

I'm struggling to think of a car with active aero and suspension that is also a diesel. Closest I can think of would be a 911 or a Mistu GTO, but they definitely don't have diseasal variants.

Please enlighten me, my good man.

Steven R

Exceptionally Amateur

So, rather than give away 500 (@ £40; or 572 @ £34.99) free computer games and thus bring joy to 500 (572) eager computer game players EA decide in their infinite wisdom to randomly benefit 500 (325 since the scheme was halted circa £13,000) car drivers and in return may earn themselves all this negative publicity and perhaps a dozen sales - all at the cost of severe aggravation to the hundreds of individuals caught in and around the scramble for half a tank of gas [potential MadMax reference]. Ah bless them ... this is exactly the same attention to detail that they showed when they brought out each of the much maligned Battlefield series (1942, 2, 2142 and assorted costly addons) ... and thus severely inconvenienced everyone who bought the games. I learned my lesson ... I don't give a flying fuck how much free anything EA gives to anyone - I will never buy another EA product.

@Richard Kilpatrick

"my car is more economical at 85 than at 70"

Sounds more like "the MPG indicator thingy reads less MPG whilst at 70mph and accelerating than at 85 when I lift my foot off the pedal" - ye canna change the laws of physics!

@Anonymous Coward, re @Richard Kilpatrick

Actually, that's probably accurate. In my case, I measure over 5 tanks (about 230 liters in my current car); see how many miles that got me and calculate from there to MPG.

In my case, driving an average of ~85mph IS actually more economical (about 100m more per tank on average) than going ~70mph on average. Following the same route, same times, etc.

It's a weight of scale really - HOW you drive is more relevant at lower speeds than higher speeds; at higher speeds it depends far more fewer factors.

Oh well

Oh well . a good thing they didn't offer any gaming geek a chance to slip their arms around either the slim and skinny under fed looking hotel heiress , Amy Pharmacopia or Lindsay Lohan in her usual minimalist outfits and get the resultant photograph autographed as well , as even the redoubtable and very experienced French riot police from Paris would have a hard time coping with all those hordes of testosterone males over the age of thirteen fighting to be first in that queue as they would be fighting for the same place in the queue too .

MPG?

Well, I was always under the impression that the way to get maximum fuel economy (disregarding acceleration and braking habits, remove un-aerodynamic bits etc.) is to be in the highest gear at the engine speed of maximum torque. So the right speed does in fact depend on your cars gearing (how many, ratio etc.) and where the maximum torque lies.

Funnily enough my car (206 diesel) in top gear at handbook 'maximum torque' (1900 rpm) is pretty much 56mph spot on!

Too off topic?

Faster Blaster

Funny, MY car always got better mileage at higher speeds, too.

And the faster you go, the slower time passes...

...(on an astrological scale)...that means..."I age less!"

...and what is the deal...with the crap the video games industry makes?

100s of titles that are "Shoot 'Em Up" & "Kill 'Em" games,

but only one or two "Driving Games".

???What Goes???

Perhaps they could reduce violence by making fewer "Shoot & Kill" games?

Perhaps we could be safer drivers by making us better drivers,

by making a few more "Driving Skills" Games!!!

I envision a game that actually trains you to drive "Economically!!!"

Think about how that might impact society!

Mine's the (windblown) coat with the SCCA patch on it

(Honda Fit turbo w/ 6-speed, paddle shifters...85mph@36 mpg)