We’ve all got some special friends on social media… You know who I’m talking about: the people who share everything they come across, regardless of how ridiculous it looks or sounds?
One of the latest hoaxes which probably caught their attention this week was a video titled “Secret Service agents train for advanced reverse escapes,” freebooted from Don Joewon Song and posted by a popular Facebook page that specializes in stolen memes and viral clips.
It shows Don reverse-drifting the 2013 Cadillac XTS Limousine that came to Forza 6 in the Logitech G car pack last fall. It’s wearing a custom livery with the Presidential Seal, designed to make the car look like “The Beast” the U.S. Secret Service uses to transport the president.
Although it is an impressive bit of virtual driving, it might have been a bit too good. In a testament to Forza 6’s graphic engine – and perhaps Facebook’s aggressive video compression – over 800,000 people shared the clip, most apparently believing it was a display of real driving.
The activity has pushed the video to over 60 million views on Facebook and Youtube over the past seven days, making it one of the Internet’s most popular videos this week. Myth-busting website Snopes already has an article on the incident.
While Don’s video is a bit over-the-top, what Secret Service drivers are actually capable of is also quite impressive. Check out the video below for a look at their actual training, part of which includes a hilariously awkward J-turn in a presidential limo:
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I thought it was obvious that it was in-game footage. Last weekend “old mate” spun the tires for 5 to 10 seconds and the smoke wafted up the street for a minute or so.
Why the second video is blocked for me? “This video contains content from National Geographi, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds”.
I get the same message. Happens on a few video sources for me (Canadian).
And to think I was racing as a teammate for Don in the FIA Formula E ESL event yesterday. :)
He himself couldn’t believe how big this videos blown up, granted it’s had an unexpected boost by the aforementioned Facebook page.
But it’s good he’s gotten some good exposure regardless and I’m happy to have been part of yesterday’s team.
What puzzles me about the response of the video is how no one noticed some of the fictional camera work on the FM6 replay of the video. The camera can’t be that close to the object in real life, be within the reach of the off-track grass away from the track boundaries, and flying panning.
You can do whatever you like with a drone camera on a closed circuit. If it was real and the circuit was taken over for the day this could easily be possible.
El presidente gone drifting yayy way to go :)
My parents fell for this…It took me all of three minutes to snap them out of it.
My co-workers fell for it. Seven guys watching it, I come in and look for three seconds and tell them it’s a game. I think a few still think it’s real.
Fake. This vid’s been edited
That’s pretty obvious and not even close to the point.
How do people think that FM6 video was real?! It looks so fake compared to real life.
When the wheels stop spinning (when applying the parking brake)you can see it go from blurry to slow turning wheels. Unsure why this video game does this effect, which is busted right off to me when I watched it to make it fake.
I ws going to say that! If someone don’t understand it, here are some points:
1. Car headlights’ brightness aren’t like photoshop’s light effects
2. the limo is wrong
3. Not too much tire smoke
4. It’s Forza, not PCars, or AC, or GT
Must have been watching the video on a dark little phone screen with the sound off.
If you’re not familiar with videogames and watch it on your phone or tablet as probably 95% of viewers did…it’s easy to see why they would think it was real.