Driving In London: For all you British members...

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1X83Z

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Hey all -

Several days ago, I bought "The Getaway" and I've been playing it nearly nonstop while watching war coverage (I can multitask!) simultaneously.

I immediately cheated and went into the 'free roaming' section of the game, which involves simple driving around a 40 sq. km. area of London from slightly east of the Tower Bridge to a few blocks west of Parliament, and fairly far north and south of both those areas (north well past Buckingham Palace).

Anyway, how in God's name does anybody drive in London? There are large cement islands in the middle of the street for christ's sake! Isn't that some sort of road nightmare!?

I have twice been nearly hit by people who are approaching a traffic light which is both red and yellow at the same time. For some reason these people (namely Alfa drivers) scream past these lights and cut me off. Do they have license to go through these lights? What about people clearing the intersection the other way? Won't they get pounded?

Why are there so many bus lanes? It seems to me that if all lanes were open to all people, there wouldn't be so much congestion. Same for bike lanes, which (ha, ha) seem to end wherever they wish, leaving nowhere for bikers to go...

Most of all, why are lanes so vague? I'll be driving down the middle of the road when I'll come up to a traffic light which has more than one lane marked on the road (at which point I immediately jump in to one lane, only to cut off an angry Alfa driver). Why aren't there lane lines throughout the whole street? Same for roundabouts - I can never tell if it's two lanes or one, and no matter which I think it is, I'm always wrong and I end up getting hit by an Alfa driver.

So somebody tell me - do people actually manage to get around in this strange city?!
 
I had a revelation whilst playing The Getaway.

The same moron that designed London streets must have designed New England streets. They make roughly the same amount of sense (none).

To answer your question, driving in London is probably not as hard in real life because you are not running to or from a crime scene. :D
 
People always yak on about New York Milan etc... but speaking from personal experience London is bonkers even the bus drivers floor it everywhere. In the US you have a law called jay walking or something well this is unthinkable in London most drivers especially the motorcycle couriers just charge at the pedestrians sounding there horns:lol: every drive is a race in london I love it, mind you it costs 5£s :( now tho. By the way the traffic lights show red and yellow (amber) when they are about to go green you are not supposed to go until green tho everybody does..
 
You can drive by the hotel i stayed in the Getaway, now that was cool.

Anyways when i checked out the game from work, i thought, no problem, i drive on the wrong side of the road in vice city all the time, this should be a piece of cake. heh, was i wrong.

Drove on the right side of the road for americans, wrong for the game.
 
The funny thing is that London's not too bad, (a) because there's so much traffic you're just in queues most of the time, and (b) because most people have a clue where they're going.

You need to go to smaller towns to experience true erraticism!

The Red+Yellow light is indication that green is about to start, therefore you should be preparing to go. Anyone approaching a Red+Yellow will naturally drive straight through, irrespective of whether they're driving a dodgy Italian rot box.

The lanes are usually ignored by cretins. This is because they are to divide the traffic according to the intended direction of travel post-junction. Cretins don't know where they're going, and will therefore pick a lane at random, or (more often) attempt to straddle all available lanes.

Bus lanes I can't help you on. It seems that they're a huge waste of road real estate, but in some instances, they do work, mainly where there are a lot of buses, and no parked cars. In Edinburgh, these are known as Greenways, and you can't park on them.

We are blighted by town planners who come up with road 'improvements' that are actually specifically designed to decrease traffic flow with the aim of driving people onto public transport. This is a stick approach, because UK public transport is actually pretty damn poor, and if they made it a little better, then more people would be willing to use it. It comes down to an element of public subsidy that the government is unwilling to apply, principally due to the shocking work ethic of the 1970s and early 1980s, which has rendered British business eternally victimised by the union-supported laziness of the common worker.
 
Heh, welcome to London! :)

Thing is that to be honest London is never that quiet, at least in the day time.

There is a definite lack of busses and pedestrians but the actions of the drivers are fairly realistic.
 
I've been told that streets in very ols cities were not planned by city planners, but rather, they are paved over routes taken for hundreds of years (thousands in some cities). The buildings were there before cars were invented so it's a matter of trying to make it work in a city made for walking, and horse and carriage. I hear Boston is pretty messed up this way, too.

I live in the "new" half of the U.S. and my city is supposedly known for being the first American city planned around the car. Hence the streets are wide and fast. Traffic jams, although they do occur, are nothing compared to where I used to live, Chicago. Downtown Chicago and the highways running near it are a complete joke and you can seriously spend a couple hours going 10 miles or less. When I lived there I took the "L" and rode my bike. I did this for four years... didn't even own a car. Sometimes I miss it. I was definitely more physically fit.
 
Originally posted by milefile

I live in the "new" half of the U.S. and my city is supposedly known for being the first American city planned around the car. Hence the streets are wide and fast. .
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Phoenix is the best-planned major city I've ever been in. All major roads are either parallel or perpendicular to each other, creating perfect squares every mile or so - making it extremely easy for finding places.

The Red+Yellow light is indication that green is about to start, therefore you should be preparing to go. Anyone approaching a Red+Yellow will naturally drive straight through, irrespective of whether they're driving a dodgy Italian rot box.
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:lol: Don't they get fined or something?
 
I live in a fairly small town well maybe slightly medium and the traffic is not bad compared to Philadelphia (Think that's how you spell it). I went to Philly on a trip and i was like how do you people do this!! This is crazy!!

We have like no skyline here in Greenville at all. I think our highest building is 25 stories and that's the only one that is that tall. It really sticks out. I was amazed at Philly. I probably looked really stupid walking around Philly with my head pointed up and talking like a "good 'ole country boy".
 
Driving in London is not as hard as it would appear in the game, or as most non-Londons would expect. The roads are narrow because they are so old and space is at such a premium.

Congestion in London is now so bad that the average speed of traffic is similar to what is was before the car was invented, and the only sensible time to drive the streets is in the small hours of the morning, or early on Sunday. Because of the slow speed driving is not really that difficult even for a hayseed like me.

There are so many bus lanes and traffic islands because the congestion is so bad the authorities are trying to discourage car drivers who are wasteful on space and encourage buses, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists.
 
Originally posted by M5Power
Same - I loved that.
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Where did you stay?

I stayed just off of Trafalgar Sq.

Half way down North Umberland Ave. go until you see a little inlet on the left (going away from the Sq.) that was a pub and a bridal shop. just a little further down the street on the left is where i stayed.
 

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From playing th getaway the streets of london actually remind me of sydney, with all the small roads one way streets and bus lanes.
 
I bet you guys don't know that there is a road missing off oxford street. right down the far end going to tottenham court road and parallel to soho street and soho square is rathbone place. Home to much crime. :lol: the head of royal mail and the sorting office of w1 area (my old job) and the best damn place for getting import games computer exchange
 
Originally posted by Raptor65
I live in a fairly small town well maybe slightly medium and the traffic is not bad compared to Philadelphia (Think that's how you spell it). I went to Philly on a trip and i was like how do you people do this!! This is crazy!!

We have like no skyline here in Greenville at all. I think our highest building is 25 stories and that's the only one that is that tall. It really sticks out. I was amazed at Philly. I probably looked really stupid walking around Philly with my head pointed up and talking like a "good 'ole country boy".
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I drove in Philly, and it was easy! Even though I was sitting on the wrong side of the road, and the wrong side of possibly the worst car ever to have turned a wheel.
 
computer exchange the best shop in london for import games and consoles and the road they completely missed out
 

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Originally posted by Wastegate
Driving in London is not as hard as it would appear in the game, or as most non-Londons would expect. The roads are narrow because they are so old and space is at such a premium.
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It's extremely difficult for overseas tourists. What the hell are those angled lines near crosswalks? Can you make a left turn on a red light? On my first trip after I turned 18, I opted to walk, use the underground or use cabs - buses, of course, are out of the question because one can stand at a bus stop in London for hours without having a bus come then have three come in the space of a minute - the logic of bus operation equates with a debris field following a midair explosion.
 
Please also remember that The Getaway can't be fully modelled due to hardware. You may notice there are no street lights.
 
Originally posted by keeno_uk
computer exchange the best shop in london for import games and consoles and the road they completely missed out
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Is that Hammersmith?
 
Originally posted by M5Power
It's extremely difficult for overseas tourists. What the hell are those angled lines near crosswalks? Can you make a left turn on a red light? [/B]
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The angled lines tell you that you cannot park a car in that area as it could block the view of the crossing. You cannot go through a red light in the UK for a left turn. Any tourists wishing to drive in any foreign country would do well to study the local road signs and markings before driving and preferably before going holiday.
 
Originally posted by Rossell
Please also remember that The Getaway can't be fully modelled due to hardware. You may notice there are no street lights.
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I hadn't noticed, actually. :D

Left turns on red are also illegal in the States.
 
Originally posted by risingson77


Left turns on red are also illegal in the States.
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They're not - but when I said 'left turns on red' remember that they drive on the left side in Britain so the left turn is the equivalent to our right turn (i.e. you don't cross any lanes but the one you're turning in to). In most states in the US, it is fully legal to make a left turn on red from a one way street to a one way street from the far left lane. Of course, it is also legal in all states to make right turns on a red light.
 
Originally posted by risingson77
Really? I don't think left turns on red are legal here (my state) anyway.
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Well, probably not in Maine... :p

PS, Rossell - there's street lights all over the game. Probably not as much as in real London, but certainly more than 'there aren't any.'
 

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