An enterprising japanese programmer, Nitoyon, has added an extra navigation mode to the three Google Earth comes with. To do this, he accessed Google Earth’s 4.0 beta’s undocumented COM API (for PC) with a JavaScript app, allowing you to steer Google Earth’s view and location in a way that exactly replicates many of those beloved car driving games.

Ever the web 2.0 netizen, Nitoyon’s put a video on YouTube showing you how it works:

Download the application from his home page. It worked well for me, though it helped to first go to a place I wanted to drive and then fire up Nitoyon’s JavaScript. The fact that the height above the car is maintained in mountainous locations is a very nice touch.