rec.autos.simulators

Red glasses to filter out the red mist?  I do this all the time, usually
after 40 minutes at Spa.  I always overcook La Source trying to be a hero.
Dohh.

Stephen

Good luck on your search :)
David

ricardo has some very good things to say in respect to your problem
and its a hell of a gpl site as well

I know I'll be checking back to find out this answer too!  I can only add my
pitiful little insight to my racing-mind wanderings.  When I settle down to
racing after learning a circuit and  developing a setup i look for places I
could win the race but more importantly, I look for places I could *lose* the
race!  For instance Watkins Glen:  I can eat everyones lunch coming up the hill
through the esses but I can lose the race trying to overtake to the right in
the braking zone going into Big Bend.  Think about racing in your best areas
and surviving your worst corners is the only thing I can pass on.
Happy Motoring

I generally race better when I listen to music, it helps with my
concentration. I have a audio CD player (extrenal normal audio CD player),
that I plug into the audio input on my SBLive, you can use the CD player in
your computer, but you'll take a frame rate hit. When I play GPL, I have to
turn the music so I can barely hear it over GPL (you don't want it to loud).
Also I generally listen to very aggresive music, I think it helps me to
remain focused through the whole race.

"Buzz O'Dea" wrote

- Ignoring signs of trouble: when slightly on the wrong line etc
  it's easy to stay flat out hoping to make it anyway (trying to
  avoid losing a tenth or two) instead of easing off and making
  it through safely. It works when hotlapping (if you get lucky
  it will work, if not, just try onother lap). But in racing it
  is fatal, obviously.

- Making up for lost time: after any mistake, it's way to easy
  to start trying to get the lost time back. In a race, especially
  an error resulting in being overtaken easily leads to the
  "damn, must go a bit faster to get my position back" state of
  mind. More often than not it soon results in another mistake,
  this time being big enough to lose half a dozen positions.

Both problems seem to be based on a problem to focus on the current
situation and ignoring the past. In the first case, the new situation
is temporary, maybe a slower than usual corner because of a bad entry.
Trying to take it at the normal speed is just as risky as taking
another corner at a higher than normal speed.

In the second case, the new situation is stationary and even harder
to accept. In some cases it is worth the increased risk to speed
up trying to get the position back, but usually the loss is more
an ego problem than a real problem.

I'm having no trouble getting this into the thinking parts of my head,
the problem is to get it into the parts of it I use when racing...

      _
Mats Lofkvist

--
Kenny L.
#14 Generic Chevy
PRC Member
Wall Scrapers Racing Team
I think that any racer, real or virtual, suffers this at some point in there
career.
My tools for this issue...
1.    Remember to drive MY race.  I mean that I know my limits, I know my
line,
        I know how fast I should be and where.  To drive outside my envelope
is
        inviting trouble.  If someone if clearly faster than me,(and there
are many)
        I must let them by to avoid them pressuring me into a mistake.

2.    Remembering that the other drivers are human also, and prone to
mistakes.
        I have often let someone pass me, and later passed them when they
made
        a mistake.

3.    I practice driving "out of the groove".  I will envision passing a
slower car that
        is in the racing line, and I will move off the line and see what it
takes to make
        the turn.  This way I am not surprised when I'm in a race and have
to move off
        line to pass or be passed.  This will give me more confidence when I
find myself
        in an unusual situation.

4.    Breath.  This may sound silly, but in the heat of battle, I find
myself breathing short.
        I have to focus on long breathes through the nose, and this helps me
to relax.

5.    I take St. John's Wort every day. :)

Seriously, Ive worked for race teams, and real drivers do it too,
especially if their team-mate is in front!

Dave Woods

------

In GPL or on a real track, it makes no difference, other than costing and
hurting a lot less.  I have been wrestling with my inner kamikaze for my entire
47yrs. Years ago I cut a quote out of a magazine and put it on my fridge hoping
if I read it enough times it would help.  It hasn't helped, I'm still a
kamikaze, but maybe it will help you.

" The key for any kind of winning driving is the ability to concentrate.
Because for any kind of race, whether it's a half-hour Player's Challenge or a
three hour Indy 500, being able to put the same concentration into every single
corner of every lap, every second on the track, is what matters. The guys that
don't win races are the ones that can't do it."

--
Don Scurlock
Vancouver,B.C.

This is the Zone. :)
You know your in the Zone when you come out of it,hehe.
I find when I'm in intense Concentration time slows down and everything
flows together and my surroundings disappear, there are even times in
heavy Concentration that many seconds or even whole laps are lost
somewhere in the back of my mind, I don't recall running the laps but
the times were flowing together, not even a tenth off each other and I
have never crashed when in the zone.
I found being a Goalie in Hockey for 16 years has helped a lot because
being a goalie is 90% mental just like racing and it deals with intense
concentration and self control. There are many times in Hockey when I
made the save and didn't even recall seeing the puck coming(80+ mph slap
shot's from 30 feet out) but the subconscious sees it and made my body
reacts with out a visual cue, it's all with intense Concentration.
It's the Mental Training that takes the longest to master and it
separates the good from the great.

This is what I like about racing, it's not the speed or the rush of
danger it's the mind games that keep me coming back for more.

Thanks for bringing up this subject, Sports Psychology is interesting.
:)

Alan

A few years ago Nigel Mansell was comfortably leading the British Grand Prix
when he suddenly put in the fastest Lap of the race.
Asked about it later he said .. "I did it for the fans"
Frank Williams wasn't so impressed and gave him a bollocking!

--
Craig

http://www.btinternet.com/~the.solicitors

Great Song Lyrics, No2
Cheap Lovers Make Expensive Wives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hutchinson Island.  1998.  From the start I am pulling away about a half
second every lap.  (Pit Board reads a second more every other lap).  Then at
8 seconds, the seconds stop going up...4 laps later, the time drops to 7.  I
never slowed down.  He just got faster.  Pressure is on.  I pushed it too
hard into the right hander.  Spun it into the haybails.  Race was over.  He
won.  Pressure SUCKS.  I have gradually learned to get rid of it but it is
just mental discipline.  It is tough to learn.

JBlack