very cool idea! 360 views etc. make it so!

That would be great...

very nice idea - team it with a "pimp my ride" idea in CH and people can race their custom cars around the world.

too fun! i can see another use for this as well: motorcyclists. there are books published with titles like "The Top 10 Rides in America", etc. something like this could enable those bikers to experience some of these rides even if they couldn't actually make the trip...

veeeeeery cool!

So, is this a contender for Ideaz War?

cool idea

How to monetize?

Love it!

Sounds fun!

But how would your make it into a business (ie monetize) ?

whoa.......am having hard time what vehicle will i used in the town outskirt! a hammer or a motor bike!

I cant help but imagine how it will be...

It makes money by being a game that you buy! The Google engine is free, but not the cars and the game controls!!

Too bad its they changed the format , though its really an exciting weekly contest still you can elevate your idea next round. Evrything will be a new ball game a good car chase.

Do give us more details such as the elevator pitch. ok?

Great Idea!

Keep going!

I call these sort of ideas teleporters. Why? because they sound great, I mean who doesn't want a teleporter? But they need more fleshing out as the challenge isn't so much the concept but its execution.

The idea is cool but there are many technical challenges. 3D Game programming is hard (I program 3D software), caching streaming data for a race game is hard(especially with hopeless internet connections). Getting rid of visually nonsensical artifacts that are a part of street view is hard(such as cars in front of you). Also there is a lack of actual geometry data in street view. There are just street paths, single lines not proper dimensions.

There is a ton of controversy surrounding fake looking video games that endorse reckless behavior, imagine the fun Jack Thompson would have with one that promotes your street corner as the best place for a burnout.

Otherwise prove me wrong because that would absolutely rock. I would teleport and pick up a copy right away.

This would be way to hard to program because of the way places are represented on Google map. Also, the game play would be bad because the map is to small and hard to control a car.

Notice how racing games actually have lager then actual size street turns and roads to give the driver maneuverability.

Make it a bicycle racing game.
In Amsterdam.
Without all the Dog crap.
Sold!

The game wouldn't interest me but if it could be done I bet lots of people would try it.

Sounds like a lot of development effort would be required, definitely not an easy thing to build overnight in the basement!

Patmania is so right on this one.

To much trouble to make
IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE...

]V[oogy

The more people say it can't be done, the better. It means that less people will actually try to make a solid game out of something so difficult, and prunes the competition by default. It's not over until the fat lady sings.

Bring it on Car Chase!

Great idea! Never mind the naysayers. I'd be into providing the hard drivin' high energy rock music for the game.

I love this idea!! I have always WANTED to street race, but I was always to afraid of the trouble I would get into if caught!

I think it could be done, just the game play would be lackluster. Also, Google maps users a format that was never intended for game play. It would be a pain to program.

Also, many games all ready take real life streets and locations and make the entire environment in game. So, you would still have competition.

Can I do donuts on the neighbors lawns? ;-)

No, because Google would need have the data on the map to be of a high enough level and in the right format to actual do make something like this.

if only they were making a fast and furious 3 - then you could tag on with them and co-promote. Of course they probably already have fast and furious games.

I have been going over google street maps, it is very much possible to build a game over the maps. But you seem to forget that the 3d images rendering is very slow and based on a drag race you will need the images to load way too fast also the fact that the streets are full of cars vehicles etc etc. It is going to be way too difficult to build this game. But if you can download the complete map onto a server and load your game over that it would be work perfectly.

It is possible but you need to work around a lot of bumps...:)

It's a good idea, especiallyif you happen to live in one of the few areas currently implemented in Google Street View. I think caching can get around most of the speed issues.

Great Idea

you can use google sketch up and export to the free gamer program that there embeding in google earth

did you ever play a game called london city 2000?
in it you walk around london solving crime, it worked a bit like google streetview.
im thinking of recreating it, let me know if youre interested

hey ive now made the streetview game, you can play it at http://www.rustyspig....com/streetviewgame/