BeamNG with 5 year old nephew

Hi everyone,

I'm a bit of a father figure to my nephew/godson, and got a copy of BeamNG to play with him. I saw how cool the game was and thought that his father, who did an early xray mod in minecraft (using a code disassembler) would approve. Plus, we get to crash cars. What's better than that?

I was wondering if anyone has any tips about exceedingly simple maps, activities, or mods we can work on together?

Jeff loves the game, but still struggles with the coordination required to drive the car. I want him to learn it, though, so we can try remote control cars (RC cars are an old hobby of mine, but he hasn't yet gotten the hang of steering and managing speed at the same time). If you think about it, for a young brain, driving is exceptionally complex because you have to anticipate the future while thinking about left and right and faster/slower simultaneously.

It's quite a challenge! But I'm proud to say that while he couldn't drive six months ago, he is beginning to learn how to use the controls.

Right now, he loves driving and firing the cannon, crashing cars into each other (he's mastered the car selection process and how to spawn multiple vehicles), and of course the cliff jumping scenario. I've taught him to use cruise control, which is absolutely perfect, because then he only has to steer. Still, he often can't resist going too fast and then crashing. He's five after all. He also loves other controls on the keyboard and learning. For example, he loves turning headlights on and off and opening and closing the gate of the pickup.

Any tips for how we can play together? Eventually I want to transition him into following roads since I know how fun that can be in a driving game.

Right now he's over the moon because I told him I would figure out how to attach nodes together and show him. He really wants to attach vehicles to trailers and other random objects together. While he gets overwhelmed easily with coordination issues, he's extremely curious and loves exploring, so this type of thing works really well for him. We might attach things together and crash them into other things. (He's extremely safety conscious, so I'm not worried about being a bad influence.)

Any suggestions or fun things you've done with super young kids? What do you think would be the simplest map to explore for someone who has a 5 year old's coordination?

 

for teaching him how to drive in games, I would honestly suggest starting him out on a different game with more arcade-style handling, maybe need for speed underground 2, or asphalt 8 (asphalt 9 is a bit too chaotic gameplay wise imo) once he gets the hang of driving cars with more grip, and more forgiving collisions, this should be a good step up.
i haven't taught any young kids to play games though, so i don't really know if this is actually good advice.

 

BeamNG is fine. If anything, it gives him a little insight into driving a car like you would in real life. It can also be used for educational purposes, learning about how a car works and crumple zones and all that.

 

he's 5

 

And? Mental stimulation is extremely heplful early on in life.

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond!

I totally agree that another game would be much easier for him to learn. At this point, though, he's super excited about beamng. I think that's great, because beamng is such a rich platform. I want him to be exploring and discovering things and beamng is great for that. As Zesty mentioned, challenge is a great thing. Plus, he's having a terrific time as it is. I respect that he's learning to overcome challenges. I hope it doesn't betray my age too much, but I think that's a good lesson to teach him, so if he's having a good time, I think beam is perfect.
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I should mention that I'm a teacher. On some level, I want this to be educational as well as fun.

 

First of all, Welcome to beamng community!

Just make sure he doesn't make a account on Beamng!

 

I had a little cousin play on beamng with my Logitech G25, (H-pattern) and they really enjoyed crashing the cars. Download a highway map, select a automatic (or use a manual in arcade mode).

 

you might want to get a controller for him, because once i got one, beamng is much better
I also advise that if the computer is not exactly made for games, beamng might be glitchy and when i first got it, it was so hard to do anything without freezing, so a should also tell you to use the right screen resolution and quality
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also, if his dad could make some mods, that would be great

 

Thanks for the tips. I'm tempted to get him a controller, as that might be a lot easier, but I don't have that in my budget right now.

Right now, he is having a blast with the nodegrabber. He loves that he can pick up a car and whip it around like a toy, breaking it to bits. I try to edge him toward figuring out how to hook up the trailer to the pickup truck, but I'm just glad that he is exploring. Plus, I remember loving breaking things when I was a kid, too.
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I forgot to ment

I used to play Unreal Tournament on a laptop back in 2004, so I've tweaked the setting quite a bit. I'm actually on a pretty powerful desktop now, though, so it holds up quite well.
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You know what? I have a couple of old joysticks I could dig up. I think I'll add one.

 

just make sure your PC can run Beam at a good pace.
also anything like this (past Beam) doesnt exist yet, and im glad your little nephew has taken a liking to it.
Get him a controller, or heck, teach him how to use a wheel. It's great mental stimulation and a fantastic learning experience. Once he's gotten a hang of that, if he's big enough, pedals and a shifter might be the next thing to add (but keep in mind it might not work with only just the wheel, so it might not be the best idea yet)

I could probably be wrong however. I myself am only 15

 

hi, so for a 5 year old learning how to drive, this game is a great example of realistic driving physics. I've played dozens of racing games throughout the years and this is by far the closest to real life (i've driven a real car 3 times, i'm only a teenager). Not to say that other games aren't good because most of my skill comes from playing other games (Forza Motorsport, Gran Turismo, Project Cars, etc) before i discovered this game. But as stated above you really want a good computer to run this game, cuz without one you will have a hard time

 

This game may help get Jeff a drivers' license

 

Heck, I’d say set up multi seat, do some police chases. I find it entertaining, and I’m not even 5. I swear.

 

VERY FUNNY.
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Rigs of Rods, a 2002 physics game, has great psysics also and can run better on a low end pc. so it runs muuuuch better.
Also it's free so if Jeff wants a driving license for free and better FPS Rigs of Rods might be worth it also.

 

I had a 6 year old staying with me for a couple of months, he loved driving the baja/off road configs around the desert maps. I just turned the assists all on, set the transmission mode to arcade, gave him a car that's easy to drive, showed him how to work the reset button, and he had a field day.

TBH though, the kid prefered Wreckfest. He liked BeamNG, but the lack of AI meant his attention span didn't keep up. When I was little, the Flatout series (same devs as Wreckfest) were some of my/my friends favorite games. Those are more traditional arcade style games, with enough silly stuff and freedom to be somewhat creatively stimulating.

BeamNG can be played as an arcade game (especially if you nudge the gravity setting up a little), but at the end of the day it just wasn't meant to be easy. Some of the most rewarding moments in this game are the ones where you get the hang of really driving, like setting a personal best around a rally course, the first time you learn to drive the Bolide, or getting the '53 Special around a track without it dying of heat exhaustion. Not to say the game cannot be enjoyed by a younger audience, it certainly can be with an adult helping them, but arcade games are usually the better option when possible at that age.

TLDR: Off road stuff would be easiest for him to drive. If he really wants to drive on asphalt, put as many assists on as you can and nudge the gravity up a hair. An arcade game may hold his interest better long term, especially if your computer cannot run the traffic mod.