So, did you have any moments where gaming transcended in your real, meatspace, life?
To give an example of what I am asking, for me it was strafing around corners after a weekend of Quake 2 LAN party and thinking about how loud my footsteps are and planning my route based on the level of shade the sidewalk I was walking on had after a period of intense Thief playing.

Oh well, once I thought reality's HDR is pretty good, almost realistic...

No game in particular does this, in fact, pretty much all modern 3D games do, but I find that if I drive immediately after gaming for a really long time, my brain seems to stay in "game mode". Making the light before it turns red, passing on the highway, cutting around corners... all become like game challenges to me. It gets so bad sometimes that I almost need a designated driver if I am going to a LAN party, otherwise I'm afraid I might kill someone on the way home.

Absolutely - when me and someone else are looking through my house for something or someone, I often find myself turning on the light in each room, sneaking my head round the door, saying "clear", then doing a quick scout around the room before closing the door.
I blame Rainbow Six and clan Counter-Strike.

This topic reminds me of the NASCAR driver Carl Edwards:
"I knew I was going to hit the wall, I just didn't think that it would slow me down that much," Edwards said. "I always wanted to try to do that. Now I know it doesn't quite work the same as video games."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=bm-edwards092808

lol XD

After a lot of nights playing 4 players Goldeneye on N64, I surprised myself going down the stairs sideways..
And there's also all the games allowing to save/load at anytime, which induce sometimes the regret that it can't be done in real life (after saying something awful to a really good friend for instance... 'Damn, hop, F9').

driving, and audio surf.

Don't you often find the sky less realistic in real life than in many games ?
or at least as little realistic ?
I do think it really looks like a bad texture on a wall not so far above our heads...

This reminds me of games like notpr0n, which require a ton of thinking outside the box and taking advantage of everything you have, including the browser itself.

Yeah, that game was great and hard as hell.

If you guys are interested in other games which you have to think laterally about, try the Karoshi series (1 & 2 - I haven't played the others), though be warned that there is lots of gratuitous violence (it's about suicide-by-overwork). Some of the levels are devilish - I needed a walkthrough for at least a few of the levels.

Thief.. All of them.. I tend to walk quietly anyway much to the annoyance of friends and flatmates, but after playing Thief I also tend to pause in the shadows.
And contemplate braining them with a lead filled sock and stealing their wallet :)
Karl

Oddly enough, I've had the opposite happen. Plenty of times, I've tried to move the mouse in an attempt to butt a gun sideways, or jumped up out of my seat when I'm trying to dive behind a set of barricades while being hailed with bullets. One time I tried to apply the "kick-down" move to a racing game. Needless to say, none of these really helped with my physical wellbeing, my keyboard/mouse's, or my ability to win a race.
Other times I've tried to apply awesome things from other games into each other. Driving into a parking garage to lose cops, throwing a sword, pressing the VATS key...
The only time I think I applied a game to real life was, like Karlallen, when I was playing Thief. After that I always crept around when I felt being silly, and I'd creep up on my brother and scare the shit out of him.
Good times, man. Goooood times.

For me it was not a Thief but Splinter Cell games.
Also once after some hardcore Project I.G.I playing I almost had a heart attack coz my phone had the very same ringtone than the bomb I tried to disarm a few times.