Simulation Against Real World Data for Learning

Points to how games can act as simulations of the world, and emulate their operation against real world data.    Experimented with this in the supply chain space.  In TechnologyReview:

Robot Cars Can Learn to Drive without Leaving the Garage
Playing video games and surfing Google Street View can teach software a lot about driving. by Will Knight  .... 

" ... Researchers at Princeton University recently developed a computer vision and mapping system that gathered useful information about the physical properties of roads by studying Google Street View and comparing the scenes to the information provided in open-source mapping data. This allowed it to, for example, learn where the edges of an intersection should be based on images captured by Google’s mapping cars. .... "