Ever felt the inclination to go all Armageddon on the whole planet? Well now you can let those feelings loose through a new asteroid impact simulator from Purdue University and Imperial College London.

Sure, the Impact: Earth! simulator is fun to play with, but researcher John Spray told Time that it’s an important research tool as well:

“The calculator is a critical tool for determining the potential consequences of an impact…. It is widely used by government and scientific agencies as well as impact research groups and space enthusiasts around the world.”

The simulator is actually an update to the basic tool already used by astronomers and governments to study how an impact would change Earth, to plan for post-disaster scenarios, and to explore asteroid- and comet-deflection technologies. When our planet was young many more space objects crashed into the Earth; while the barrage has slowed, small bits of debris still frequently fly into our atmosphere, says Time:

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If I ever win the lottery, once I get that check deposited in my bank account, my first call will be to Simcraft, makers of the utterly awesome APEX SC830. The SC830 is designed to be a training simulator for professional race car drivers. The simulator boasts three degrees of freedom, allowing it to roll, pitch and yaw in response to motion within the simulation– I tested it out, and I could really feel the car pulling around curves. (This was before I spun out and crashed horribly, proving that in real life I should never be allowed near the steering wheel of a race car). It’s an amazingly realistic experience, and the company told me the military have also used it to train drivers to handle off-road conditions. A flight simulator version is also in the works.

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