On a recent episode of “The Drive with Lauren and Karl,” we ended up talking about two very different corners of car culture: a hyper-realistic driving simulator developed by our guest, automotive journalist Mike Harley, and the latest wave of Hollywood car movies built around classic, analog machines.

At first glance, those topics have nothing in common.

Traditional sims feel artificial, with exaggerated inputs and inconsistent feedback.

But taken together, they point to something bigger: Driving is splitting into two worlds. One is becoming more digital, more controlled, and more simulated. The other is maxing out on the emotional, physical experience that made people fall in love with cars in the first place.

A new kind of driving experience

Harley is co-founder of Idaho-based Marble Labs, the company behind new driving simulator XP1.

More than 10 years in the making, XP1 eschews the old-fashioned arcade mechanics in order to replicate real driving — how a car responds to steering input, braking, weight transfer, and grip. That may sound like what simulators have always promised, but most drivers know the difference immediately. Traditional sims feel artificial, with exaggerated inputs and inconsistent feedback.

XP1 is trying to change that.

Instead of force-feedback approximations, it uses a physics-based model designed to behave like an actual vehicle. The goal is simple: Make what you’ve learned behind the wheel of a real car carry over naturally into the simulation.

That has promising real-world applications. A teenage driver can practice without risk. A senior driver can regain confidence without the pressure of real traffic. An enthusiast can work on technique — braking, cornering, control — without paying for tires, fuel, or repairs.

And it doesn’t require a five-figure investment. Harley built it to run on a standard PC with a basic, affordable wheel-and-pedal setup.

That matters, because as driving becomes more expensive, more regulated, and in some cases less accessible, simulation starts to look less like a novelty and more like a practical tool.

The limits of going digital

But even as simulation improves, it highlights what can’t be replicated. You can model physics, recreate vehicle dynamics, and simulate environments.

What you can’t fully reproduce is emotion.

That came up repeatedly in our conversation when we shifted from simulators to real-world vehicles — especially performance cars. Automakers like Lamborghini and Porsche have already started pulling back from plans to go fully electric in certain segments, not because they can’t build fast EVs, but because something is missing.

Sound, vibration, feel. In other words, the mechanical connection between driver and machine.

A car that goes from zero to 60 in under two seconds is impressive. But if it does it silently, without drama, without feedback, many drivers — especially enthusiasts — find the experience incomplete.

RELATED: No new cars under $50K? Thank the government

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Hollywood still gets it

If you want to see where car culture still lives, look at what Hollywood is making.

Car correspondent Josh Hancock dropped by to show that studios get that driving is an emotional experience, not just a technical one. The upcoming reboot of “The Rockford Files” is reportedly looking at classic Pontiac Firebirds. The success of “F1” has already sparked a sequel. “Days of Thunder” is returning. New films like “Crime 101” are built around analog cars — Camaros, Challengers, V8 sedans — shot with practical effects, not just digital ones.

Filmmakers understand something the industry sometimes forgets: People don’t connect with cars purely because they are efficient. They connect with them because they feel something when they drive them.

And that’s something simulation, no matter how advanced, is still chasing.

Two paths forward

What’s emerging is not a replacement of one world by another, but a split.

On one side, driving becomes more digital:

simulators for training and practice; electric vehicles focused on efficiency and performance metrics; and increasing reliance on software and automation.

On the other side, driving remains physical:

internal combustion engines, especially in enthusiast segments; vehicles designed around feel, not just function; and cultural reinforcement through movies, media, and lifestyle.

These two paths can co-exist; in fact, they probably have to.

By reducing costs and expanding access to training, simulations can help drivers improve. But no amount of virtual sophistication can replace the reason people care about driving in the first place.

The bottom line

Technology is changing how we drive — and in some cases, whether we need to drive at all.

But it hasn’t changed why people care about cars.

The rise of advanced simulators like XP1 shows how far digital driving has come. The resurgence of analog car culture in movies shows how much of the experience still depends on something real.

You can listen to the full episode of “The Drive with Lauren and Karl” featuring Mike Harley below:

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More than willing to hold Americans’ ease of travel hostage, Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and his Democratic allies in the U.S. Senate initiated a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security last month, conditioning the passage of the FY2026 DHS appropriations bill on restrictions to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection operations.

This Democratic denial of funding that has survived over four votes on theme has manifested in long lines and headaches at airports across the country — especially at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which urged travelers on Monday morning to “arrive at least 4 hours early” on account of Transportation Security Administration staffing constraints and the correlated “longer than normal wait times at security checkpoints.”

‘We thought we would be safe enough.’

While advising passengers to allow at least four hours for security screenings, the airport presently recommends budgeting additional time for checked baggage.

According to the airport traffic rankings released last year by Airports Council International, Hartsfield-Jackson was the busiest in North America, boasting over 108 million passengers and 796,224 aircraft movements in 2024.

On Sunday, only four of the 18 TSA screening lanes were open at America’s busiest airport, reported CNN. The general boarding line was reportedly backed up past the atrium, wrapped around the baggage claim, and jutting out the door at the drop-off area.

The frustration and uncertainty were apparently too much for some would-be travelers to bear. Police reportedly had to escort one woman out after she suffered an apparent panic attack.

RELATED: ‘I messed up’: LaGuardia Airport shut down after deadly collision

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“We thought we would be safe enough but … it’s just insane,” Oliver Wanner from Minnesota told CNN. Wanner arrived at the airport at 4 a.m. ET for a 7:30 a.m. flight — but still ended up trapped in the line.

Aaron David, a traveler who was attempting to collect his bags on Sunday, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the experience was “absolute insanity and chaos.”

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D) announced on Sunday that help from Homeland Security Investigations and ICE was on the way, starting Monday morning.

The announcement came just days after President Donald Trump stated, “If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!”

“According to federal officials, these personnel will be assigned to support operational needs directed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), including line management and crowd control within the domestic terminals,” said Dickens. “Federal officials have indicated that this deployment is not intended to conduct immigration enforcement activities.”

“Our Administration remains hopeful the Federal Government can soon find a way to fully fund TSA and pay their employees to resume standard operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — and all airports we connect to,” added Dickens.

To “help ease the burden on TSA officers who continue to serve” despite Democrats pulling TSA funding, the city of Atlanta and the Hartsfield-Jackson airport have been providing TSA officers with meal vouchers, free parking, free public transit passes, and discounted food options at airport concession stands.

Despite the support measures, around 30%-40% of agents have called out in recent days, reported WSB-TV. While some workers are not showing up after going weeks without pay, others have reportedly just quit.

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Weeks into the Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, Trump finally threatened to take matters into his own hands in the Transportation Security Administration lines on Saturday. And Trump gave an update on Monday, signaling his continued intention to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at major airports.

On Monday, Trump announced that he would accept a slight change in policy for the ICE agents covering for TSA workers, all while taking some jabs at his political opponents.

‘I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc.’

“I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals, many of whom were let into our Country by Sleepy Joe Biden and his wonderful ‘Border Czar,’ Kamala (she never even went to the Border!), through their absolutely INSANE Open Border Policy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

RELATED: Trump threatens Democrats that he’ll fix TSA himself — and it involves ICE

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However, he then added: “I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc.”

In the first year of the second Trump administration, opponents of ICE repeatedly called for the removal of face coverings for the ICE agents, arguing that masks allowed agents to act with relative impunity. Supporters of ICE argued that the masks were employed for the agents’ own safety.

Trump said on Saturday that the ICE agents would “do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country.”

Travelers have faced extremely long screening wait times as TSA workers continue to work without pay, if they show up at all. Many have been forced to get temporary jobs during the shutdown to make ends meet.

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President Donald Trump has now laid out a potential off-ramp to end the United States’ strikes against Iran.

Trump said Monday that the two countries have had “productive conversations” in recent days, hinting at a possible resolution to the conflict in the upcoming days or weeks. This announcement comes in the third week of the military operation, which would fit Trump’s predicted four- to six-week timeline to close the conflict.

‘POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES.’

“I AM PLEASE TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump said in a Truth Social Post.

Trump also indicated that the United States would be scaling back key aspects of its military campaign while peace talks continue through the week.

RELATED: Joe Kent resigns from Trump admin, says Israel forced US into Iran conflict

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This de-escalation comes after Trump threatened Saturday to “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has constrained much of the world’s oil supply.

“BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAIN IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS,” Trump said.

Trump notably did not address Israel’s role in the conflict, raising questions about whether the ally may go rogue again.

Last week, Israel launched strikes against Iran’s gas fields, which prompted retaliatory strikes that hit a portion of Qatar’s liquid natural gas fields. Trump addressed the strikes in a Truth Social post Wednesday, saying that the United States had no foreknowledge of Israel’s strikes that notably led to military action against another American ally in the region.

This is not the first time Israel has complicated the United States’ attempts to broker peace in the region.

RELATED: Trump’s hilarious response after intel reportedly tells him Iran’s new supreme leader might be gay

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In the lead-up to Trump’s 20-point peace plan to resolve the war between Israel and Palestine, Israel launched strikes targeting senior Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar.

Trump said the decision was made entirely by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without American foreknowledge. Trump acknowledged and praised the deaths of Hamas leadership as a “worthy goal,” but criticized Israel for “unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace.”

Trump later made Netanyahu call and apologize to Qatar’s prime minister just 20 days after the strike that killed a Qatari security officer, violated the country’s sovereignty, and threatened peace talks.

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