In-car gaming arrives in latest Android Auto update

A few decades ago, in-car gaming used to be a case of bringing along your own Nintendo Game Boy or hoping that the Pimp My Ride crew would show up to install a PlayStation 2 in your dilapidated old nail. But with an impending update, you’ll soon be able to play games in any car compatible with Android Auto.

Tesla has offered games on its huge central display for some time, but Android users will soon be able to join them – albeit on a relatively small scale at first. Tech blog 9to5Google reports that just four games are supported in Android Auto 14.1’s beta phase: Farm Heroes Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Angry Birds 2, and Beach Buggy Racing.

Unless the Angry Birds have taken up motorsport in their sequel, or Farm Heroes Saga lets you drift a muddy Range Rover around the access roads, Beach Buggy Racing appears to be the only one of those that, in true Pimp My Ride style, lets you “drive while you drive”.

In reality, though, and very wisely, none will operate unless the vehicle is parked – the gaming apps are instantly closed and greyed out when you start moving. Instead you’ll see a message stating “Not available while driving”, so your passengers won’t be able to play them either.

Given that hundreds more games are compatible with Google’s operating system, we’d expect more to become available once Android Auto 14.1 is out of beta. Not all will be optimised for playing on the varying screen sizes in modern cars, though – 9to5Google notes that even of the two it tested, Angry Birds 2 and Beach Buggy Racing, only the latter opened fully and still showed options for the mobile device’s tilt controls.

The forthcoming update to Android Auto will offer users a flash bit of tech as yet denied to Apple CarPlay users, and give them something extra to do when charging up an EV, for instance. However, in reality, simply playing on your phone, which is much better optimised for the experience, is still probably the preferable option.

And it’s still not as cool as being able to plug a Super Nintendo console into a Honda e via the car’s HDMI input. Beach Buggy Racing isn’t a patch on classic Mario Kart…

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