From keyboards to touch screens, mobile phones have transformed from functionality to intelligence, and so have cars. From no screen to screen to giant screen, in the face of automatic driving that will be realized sooner or later, the living space in the car has greater imagination.
Although the ideal L9, which was originally scheduled to be released on April 16, was delayed, the information was leaked in the form of a series, which satisfied the audience's appetite. In addition to the exterior, interior, seats, sound, power suspension, and assisted driving, the most controversial part is probably the "mobile game hall for the whole family".
The ideal L9's game hall features are reflected in the center control screen, co-pilot entertainment screen and rear cabin entertainment screen, which can realize Nintendo's Switch line direct connection through the Type-C interface.
In addition, the car is also equipped with a 220V power supply, with HDMI-Type-C adapter cable, a variety of top game consoles and AAA masterpieces can be moved to the car. Convenient operation, combined with the car's large space, comfortable seats and panoramic sound, can put together a picture of the whole family playing a happy game.
The new game feature caused a lot of controversy, and the game lover group felt very surprised, "playing PS5 (PlayStation 5, the fifth generation of home console launched by Sony) while massaging), it is so cool."
Li Xiang himself said bluntly: "We moved all these [game consoles] on the table to the car." We are such an expensive car, I don't want those mobile games that can be played without stopping to recharge, I want to play those real AAA (high cost, high volume, high quality) game masterpieces, I want to be able to play the same game with my wife and children, which is what my dad dreamed of. ”
There are also many critics, such as distracted driving caused by safety hazards, entertainment demand flashy, "playing games at home, playing games with mobile phones is not enough, playing games in the car is not motion sickness", "to prevent children from indulging in games is not enough, and in the car to arrange?" ”
Games on the bus are not new
Once the game features promoted by the ideal L9 are released, it is like poking a honeycomb, various comments are non-committal, and the traffic is earned. However, moving the game into the car is not an ideal originality, and Musk, a fan of the game, has always maintained a high interest in the game of getting on the car.
As early as 2018, Missile Command, Asteroid and Lunar Lander were updated into Tesla's car. In June 2021, at the delivery event of the new Model S, Tesla demonstrated the game screen of Cyberpunk 2077 based on the Model S in-vehicle central control entertainment system, which was no less effective than that of professional game consoles.
Gac Aion AION S Plus also joined hands with Migu Express in 2021 to launch a "cross-dimensional dream esports cabin" game set priced at 199 yuan, which includes a physical gamepad, more than 1,000 game installation packages, and single-month game memberships.
Xiaopeng Automobile's models directly turn the central control screen into a large mobile phone, and install entertainment apps such as Weishi and Douyin, which can not only download various existing games from the app store, but also play some games through the steering wheel and handle.
It is worth noting that Tesla and the ideal L9 are all host games, there is a premise here, that is, smart electric vehicles are large computing power platforms, fully accept the power consumption level of the host, PC, with large computing chips and independent GPUs, car-mounted large-screen cars, smart cars can run large-scale games, and get far beyond the experience of mobile games.
And that's the current trend in the gaming industry: spatial interaction and immersive experiences. Compared to other gaming devices, cars have better immersive spaces, such as seats, audios, sensors, fragrances, air conditioning systems, which are not available in other gaming devices, and these devices are uniformly integrated in the car.
In fact, not only games, in the era of electric vehicles, cars have become large-scale mobile intelligent terminals from means of transportation, and even the third living space that pins our emotions, and the attributes other than transportation have become more and more important. Musk bluntly said, "Entertainment will become crucial as self-driving technology plays an increasingly important role in cars." ”
Controversy over the game on the car
The biggest problem is safety, distracted driving can easily cause accidents. Tesla has been warned by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) for playing games in the car. At the end of 2021, NHTSA said it had launched a safety investigation into 580,000 Tesla vehicles sold since 2017 because Tesla allowed users to play games through the central control screen while the vehicle was moving, and they were evaluating whether the feature had the potential to distract drivers and increase the risk of collision.
After being named by NHTSA, Tesla turned off the game function in the case of vehicle driving, and it is understood that the game provided on the Roc car is currently only available in the parked state.
However, even if only the passenger can operate, the game screen and sound can distract the driver and cause safety hazards.
Industry insiders believe that in today's unpopular automatic driving, distracted driving is becoming more and more common, and has become a social problem. Only after the maturity of autonomous driving technology will the consumer market have a demand for the entertainment function of the vehicle.
Still, even if a distinction is made between drivers and passengers, the scene of playing a game in the car itself seems controversial.
Taking the ideal L9 family game hall as an example, some netizens raised questions from several specific scenes: a family goes out, if it is a short distance, play a game for a while and get off the bus, and long-distance games will cause motion sickness.
There is not enough time to be close to nature when camping, why choose to play games; when playing games, people who drive are noisy, and may have to be accompanied by a driver? Will Mommy encourage kids to play games? Not afraid of myopia?
Finally, the netizen joked: The car access game can only provide a safe haven for the father who buys a car to rub two games, constructing an illusory perfect family carrier.
From the perspective of the product manager, there is no demand to create demand, aside from the concept of family game hall, is it a pseudo-demand to play games in the car alone?
There is a set of data, at present, in the various functions of the car system, the proportion of daily active users of the game is less than 1%, that is, less than 1 in 100 people will click on the game in the car, in all entertainment functions, such as music, video, K songs, etc., the use rate of the game is the first to last.
In addition, console games are not as popular in China as car companies think, and mobile games are still the main body of the mainland game market. Data estimates, in 2021, the number of mobile phones in the mainland has reached 1.856 billion, in addition to the game depth players, can use mobile phones to solve the problem, why do you have to take the switch to the car? Some people think that the 3A masterpiece, console games, etc. sound intimidating, in fact, it is more to show off the powerful computing performance of the car machine by running a huge console game.
However, this need cannot be completely denied. Mr. Xiao, a netizen, said: The game is not a reason to buy a car, but it can be an impulse point that prompts a choice. If you think about it, in fact, there are still many scenes of the game in the car: half an hour of pleasure in the car after returning home from work; the noon break is a 1-hour fishing time in the garage; and the entertainment method of the whole family outdoor camping is complementary. He believes that the use of electric vehicles will indeed extend a lot more than traditional fuel vehicles.
As early as January 2020, Tesla CEO Musk raised a topic on social platforms, asking users if they wanted to play the "Wizard" series of games in the car. A total of 690,000 people participated in the discussion, of which 85% of netizens expressed expectations.
But for people who don't play games, they don't suddenly start playing AAA games just because they can play them in the car.
The car game of the future
The status quo does not represent the future, and in the era of software-defined cars, game on-board is a trend. The K song in the car is a verified entertainment demand, so why can't you play the game in the car if you can play the K song in the car?
Now BYD, Ideal, Weilai, Xiaopeng, etc., all provide KTV functions in the car, and Volkswagen has attributed the lack of entertainment functions to some of the ID series in China.
Earlier this year, Volkswagen Group executives said, "For German drivers, it may not matter to install karaoke systems on the central control screen, but many Chinese customers like these features and are disappointed when Volkswagen does not provide them." Our products should be closer to Chinese users, especially in terms of software. ”
Ford is aware of this, too. In March this year, Ford China proposed the concept of a smart living capsule, which is mainly divided into five major themes: gathering space, mobile workstation, music creation room, adventure partner, and e-sports center. In Ford's view, the definition of smart cars is far greater than the traditional means of transportation or a single theme of the "third space", but needs to meet the user's needs for private gatherings, work, entertainment and relaxation, improvisation.
In general, in addition to intelligence, the content and services of the car cockpit are likely to become an important embodiment of vehicle differentiation in the future. Hardware such as co-drivers, rear entertainment screens, high-quality sound systems, smart panels, software such as video conferencing, multi-screen interactive screen projection, and running large-scale games will become the main configuration trends.
The game moves into the car, perhaps just the beginning.