Vibe coding in practice: Building a driving simulator without expert programming skills

Fortes-Ferreira, M., Alam, M. S., Bazilinskyy, P.

Submitted for publication.

ABSTRACT The emergence of Large Language Models has introduced new opportunities in software development, particularly through a revolutionary paradigm known as vibe coding or 'coding by vibes,' in which developers express their software ideas in natural language and AI generates the code. This exploratory case study investigated the potential of vibe coding to support non-expert programmers. A participant without coding experience attempted to create a 3D driving simulator using the Cursor platform and Three.js. The iterative prompting process improved the simulation's functionality and visual quality. The results indicated that LLM can reduce barriers to creative development and expand access to computational tools. However, challenges remain: prompts often required refinements, output code can be logically flawed, and debugging demanded a foundational understanding of programming concepts. These findings highlight that while vibe coding increases accessibility, it does not completely eliminate the need for technical reasoning and understanding prompt engineering.