SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Feature: My Mind's Racing

...literally race through my mind like Steve McQueen’s Porsche 917 when I am in the midst of running an auto racing simulation. It’s like having a Three Stooges Go Racing movie running on a continuous loop inside my head... and it’s driving me crazy.

Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck...

Crazy enough to think “My daddy said ‘Son, you’re going to drive me to drinkin’ if you don’t stop driving that hot rod Lincoln!’” as I’m working my GT40 into and through (mostly into) the chicane at Monza Junior.

"What the heck was that?" I thought a mile further down the track, "This is a Ford, not a Lincoln! You Stooge!"

Ford GT 40

As if my thoughts were designed to actually make sense or in some small measure help me instead of hinder me as I struggled to carve the perfect racing line with my force feedback wheel.

And that last part is the key, at least to the intent of this, my latest article on the trials and terrors of a relative newbie-driver striving to get to the next level. Because in spite of knowing some of what I should be doing — trying to improve and have fun in the process — what I often actually did was getting frustrated and angry with myself.

I began to realize I had a problem with “pencil-think” a couple of weeks ago during an online race session in which I was having all kinds of problems with my car. I couldn’t get the braking points right. I was either coming to an almost complete stop just before the corner’s turn-in, or I was blowing right through the end of the preceding straight and out into the boonies.

I would either be way too cautious in applying the binders or clamp down too hard and lock up the wheels, skidding into a guard rail or the nearest car foolish enough to be within striking distance of me. There was no middle ground, although the end result was always the same. I crashed.

I checked my brake input and calibrated and rechecked, but nothing changed. It started to wear on me, and before I knew it I was flooded with stupid and not-so stupid thoughts. There was no “off” switch either, the barrage kept going for the entire race.

Needless to say, I did not fare well in that one. It was all I could do to finish it out and keep a good game face on. Quite a disappointment considering I had qualified first and led the first lap, right up until Turn 3R, and the appearance of the mind gremlins. Pencil-necked geek mind gremlins. Oh, how I hate them.

As you may know from my previous racing articles, I tend to make analogies between auto racing simulations and real-life golf. Continuing the tradition, golf is famous for the role specific thoughts have during play, as well as visualization to help players achieve the best shot possible.

It is likewise famous for the horrors of negative mental imagery and the power of the dark side to absolutely destroy what otherwise might be a competent set of skills. We’ll save the latter for later, because it’s the most fun.

For now, let’s talk about swing thoughts. No, not those “swing” thoughts, and not that kind of fun. "Swing thoughts", as in what a golfer thinks as he stands over the ball.

The golf swing happens in about one second, from takeaway to impact. The club head is traveling approximately 100 MPH. It’s not reasonably possible for the average duffer, like me, to have a whole bunch of tinkering swing thoughts running through my head as I’m trying to get my right leg steady, keep my left arm straight, have a one-piece takeaway, do a full shoulder turn, have a in-to-out swing path, keep my eye on the ball and not look up, and make a good follow through.

No, it’s more like: WHIZ-WAP! Over. Aw nuts, out of bounds. OK, let’s do that again…

WHIZ-WAP! Over. Aw nuts…

It is said a professional golfer can have up to three key swing thoughts and be able to concentrate on and execute all three. For the weekend public course player, he’s lucky if he can concentrate on one and execute that. What this means is simply that an overabundance of key thoughts, too much mental chatter, will overwhelm most of us. We simply can’t think about all that and make a golf club move precisely through the ball at 100 MPH.

Things happen pretty darn quickly out on the race track as well. It’s not that uncommon for my whole simulated body to be going faster than 100 MPH, simulated head included.

And just like the real life golfer, the learning simulated auto racer needs to KISS. No, not kiss the steering wheel, but “Keep It Simple, Stupid”.

As we shall soon see, we don’t want any negative thoughts entering the equation, don’t want to be calling ourselves any derogatory names.

Perhaps “Keep It Simple, Smart (ass)”?

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