Have you ever wanted to shop for a car without leaving your couch? DriverTV, a customized cable channel, turns that wish into reality with its virtual showroom. There you can compare vehicles and obtain you all the information you'll need to buy a car; you can also take a 3-minute virtual "test drive."

DriverTV takes a consumer-oriented approach to showcasing new cars. Instead of glamour shots, vehicles are filmed in a no-frills sur-rounding. You'll see a 360-degree shot of the interior and shots of the exterior on a desert terrain and also on a rotating stage. The neutral environment allows a consistent basis for consumers to compare numerous vehicles objectively.

The test drive feature is a 3-minute video of new cars and light trucks driving identical courses. It's filmed from a driver's point of view; all the vehicles make the same turns and stops and are driven at similar speeds, to give viewers an idea of the driving experience.

Since its launch last November, DriverTV has grown from 40,000 to 800,000 viewers as of this past August. The service is available in 46 of the top 50 cable markets. Cable customers have to pay an extra charge to have on-demand service, which includes DriverTV, but there is no additional fee to watch it. And by the end of 2006, DriverTV will feature 75 percent of all available U.S. models.