Are Go-Karts good practice for driving a car?

I'm nervous on getting my drivers permit soon and going to drive on the road, so are go karts kind of a good practice....? Like to get the feeling? Or no?|||No - cars are driven in a different environment and don't behave like cars. Bicycling is good practice, though. You interact with traffic and learn important things like not trying to turn while braking hard. I've taught my children and an in-law to drive and I can tell you there is a lot of difference betwen cyclists and those who have never ridden in traffic.|||Not at all. A 4 year old kid can drive a go kart but would you ride with him if he was driving a car. I'll bet not.|||If a few key aspects - yes. In most of the details, however, it isn't. I am all for educating children and teens for good driving values through go-karts. Driving a kart requires smoothness and accuracy in handling the controls. Driving a kart is about maintaining a certain pace around the track. It also includes a cornering strategy called "Slow-in, Fast-out" where you enter the corner slow and with a safety margin and maintain it around the corner.





The kart driver will have sharper responses, more confidence (but not over-confidence that comes from over-estimating your control) and a better understanding of a car. He will also learn to uphold driving as a value: Not to drive under poor physical or emotional conditions, how to show sportmenship towards other drivers, and how important it is to remain perfectly focused on the road.





However, the go-kart has some drawbacks: It moves around a closed and well known-in-advance track, with high and consistent grip. The kart has an unbelievably low center of gravity, slick tires, no suspension or wheel alignment, mechanical steering with an exceptionally short rack, a completly different driving posture relative to a car, an open cockpit with no passengers, and a perfectly rigid chassis. It has rear-wheel drive without any kind of drivetrain (gearbox or differential).





Overall, I think it's a very good thing. It's also an exceptional thing to drive by it's own, the closest thing to a proper Single-Seater car (like a Formula-1 car). Exceptional.