I think you are absolutely right! Objective and immediate feedback would be better for everyone as would greater refinement of the rank system and instructor feedback/Instruction. The Carv reference is great and applicable, I agree with Steve C on that one.
I would also go a bit further. Part of the issue is cost per seat minute and relative gain. As it is now, it is difficult to know what you are going to get in an event, especially if one is relatively new. As simulation has evolved and become an ever better tool for training incorporating it into performance driving for the hobbyist should be done.
For example, not only incorporating what you suggest above, but the club sets up a baseline metric on a specific course/car in Assetto Corsa (or your sim of choice) and gives targets for levels and advancement. This gives ways to get more time & feedback in between track sessions. Is it enough to advance alone - Of course not! However it can add to the toolbox and seat time/mind time to increase the advancement and allow performance driving to be relevant and part of life more than 6-10 times a year when one is actually at the track as a hobbyist.
Add to that a weekly sim/discord session and now you build a more community in the club. This increases everyone's engagement and keeps the engagement up helping to offset the distractions of the rest of life.
These are all great ideas but they all assume the initial hurdle has been cleared—that we have actually gotten younger people to arrive at the track. A lot of younger people are gaming in a simulator but don’t have the means or even a seed planted to start in this pastime . What if we could somehow incorporate Simulator competition at track events to get younger people there to be involved in that? Then we would get them to our events, around cars, around the track, they could take rides, we could even have a low cost rental car when they want to actually get in a real car and start this sport. I realize that there are barriers to that like money. But there are ways to do this. We have to first get them to want to be at the track.
Sim instruction in the paddock first, and then move on to the track. The older students generally respond to the traditional classroom sessions in a driving school, but the younger students not so much. An instructor can talk for hours and use graphs and videos, but sitting a person behind a sim wheel for 30 minutes would change the entire dynamic.
This could offer a lower cost on ramp as well. $50 for the day or less and get the absolute beginners behind the wheel of a sim, get a ride along with an instructor and get to meet future friends in the paddock.
Gamifying is a great idea. Take a look at the CARV model of ski instructing. A 6 axis gyroscopic device that clips to your ski boot. It links to your smartphone. The app, used with your ear buds, coaches you in real time by giving you “chimes” in your ear when you “hit” your goal while you ski. It gives you a negative signal when you do not. So CARV has gamified skiing for much of the same reason. Skiing is a shrinking sport. The gamification gives immediate feedback and reinforces your improvement. Garmin could probably up their “game” and do this as well as AIM and others. Just a thought while I sit in the airport waiting for another delayed flight lol.
Here's a few things that we are faced with on tracking:
1. Sticker shock! This is a tough one. More people now either have no desire to work on their cars or nor have the talent to do so than in the past. Shop costs can add up fast. Track time is expensive, travel cost etc., expendables, tires, brakes, etc. There are pretty much no other sports that are this costly on a per event basis. In past there were less horse powered cars on track, now its become an arms race for power. A Miata is a great car for reliability, handling and low maintenance. Show up with one and you're one of very few. Exclusive tracks like Area 27 in B.C. aren't helping either, my guess is that it will be gone in about 10 years.
2. I don't believe lap times provide any benefit for novice drivers. Data is good, but honestly the new driver is overwhelmed already. I know I was when I started. Piling on more stuff would have turned me off. I just wanted to learn the basics, braking, cornering, and throttle. Of course
Catalyst is a great tool for that and I would think that it should suffice as a measuring tool for the person interested in such as they progress. Instructors always should make their student feel like they are the most important person in their company during the time they are at the track. As drivers we should do our best to make the new driver feel part of the community ASAP.
3. Feedback is always good for any generation. I've had good instructors and bad ones. The good ones gave me concise and relevant information, the worst gave me none or wrong. I learned to sort it out eventually, which is a good quality to have in it's self.
4. Don't sell the millennials too short. There are many out there that are willing to take the hard road to get better. Trust me, I've played golf with those that have. I have also coached a number of drivers that have appreciated a straight forward no nonsense approach to the basics. I've also had the unfortunate privilege to coach a few 30 something males in 600+ HP cars that request to be soloed in the afternoon. I give them a "trip to the woodshed" lecture that would either change them or they'd never come back. Unlike golf, there are no Mulligans in this sport.
My 2 cents (3 cents w/inflation) Do your best to help that new driver and encourage your friends to come out and track with you. Have them ride along, if your venue supports such. Shame on the ones that don't, are you listening PCA?
That is a great point John. We have had problems attracting younger people to racing for a long time because there is not much that can be done to a modern car by someone not raised around vehicles. The thought of showing up to race and not being able to even do simple repairs on a car really does frighten prospective drivers. I have heard that again and again over the last 2 decades.
Great thoughts Ross. I like the challenge to our thinking. To engage the future DE drivers the process likely needs to change or in 10 years time it’ll be a thin crowd perhaps. There is a whole other discussion on why that matters, but I won’t bore you with that here. I like your approaches as well as what others have stated above. While I would like to offer you solutions the creativity side is not a strength, while execution is. So, how do we change the mindset at this clubs and organizers? I like the idea of subsidizing a first event and dare I say maybe even an old track set up limits or E36. Give them a taste. Get them excited. Make it fun!! Not all so serious all the time. Is there a national HPDE council (I don’t think it’s MSF, but maybe) that can help or do you see this as a totally grassroots change at the local or club level?
A lot of good ideas, Ross. It’s something that I also find troubling, but not just with young drivers. A lot of my friends with whom I started driving on track with gave up because of restrictions, which we all suspect are insurance based. They quit and went racing. I do both but I’m unusual in that sense.
Other things to consider:
1. Instructing quality isn’t linked to automotive instructing. It’s a broader mindset and we need a more open perspective.
2. Racing truly pushes you to appreciate the finer points of driving yet it competes for resources with DE. So is it better if you have racers with fewer DE days per year? IMO, yes if #1 is addressed.
3. Convenience or lack there of is a factor. If I go to COTA or mid-oh or any other track far from Boston, it’s a 5-day commitment, ignoring costs, track-capable car, insurance, etc. Not sure how to address yet, but tried something with my nephew who just turned 18… worked quite well last summer but I had to take a big financial risk.
4. Keeping good drivers with instructor capabilities. That may mean in some level actually allowing w2w racing.
5. Gamification can also be implemented at the driver/instructor level. I always use lap times and set daily goals, measuring success lap after lap, screaming the big wins and the smooth inputs and anything else that’s important, and downloading after every session and day. Seems to work and the chief instructors I work with in various groups seem to trust me with it.
6. Awareness. Most people don’t know you can do this. That’s easy to solve, and stage sport is infectious so it doesn’t require Super Bowl adverts…
In closing, your points are well taken and will require a broad collaboration to make the sport survive current legislations…
I'm all in for installing a black box (that's orange) with AI analyzing my session, great idea! The variability in what we bring to the students is massive. Of course I think I'm doing a pretty good job as an instructor, wait a minute, how do I know what I don't know?? Three run groups get us more time, but I have 200 hp, so how much fun is it worrying about the guys with 400, or 600 hp, sometimes it's not! How do we solve for that, more run groups speed and lap time determined, sounds good, we need 14 hours of daylight, should be easy.
Personally, and perhaps to play the Devil's advocate, I am OK with not having large numbers of drivers enter the sport as long as there is enough to maintain the driving and learning opportunities for those that are already interested. However, to comment, on gamifying the sport, it is important to maintain a certain quality of entrant who takes the sport seriously enough to keep it respectful and safe. It is more than just a game when your equipment and safety is on the line.
Having said that, I believe the multilevel aspect that you are describing could be much more valuable than just making it more interesting to those with short attention spans. You may have heard of "biofeedback". This is where you measure physiological parameters of the body that you are not able to be consciously aware of and give feedback to the subject about what direction they are heading. For example, applying 2 electrodes to the palm of the hand can measure the electrical resistance of the skin between them. When he are tense or nervous, the sympathetic nervous system activates and increases sweating which reduces the electrical resistance. When we relax, the sympathetic system activity reduces and the parasympathetic system activity increases resulting in reduced sweating, drying of the palms and increasing the electrical resistance. If a sound is applied to the resistance, it can change, for example becoming lower in tone indicating to the person that they are becoming more relaxed. We can do the same thing with heart rate, muscle tone, heart rate variability (the subtle change in heart rate as it changes from beat to beat) and even EEG (brain wave) activity. The subject then attempts a relaxation technique and even before they experience a noticeable subjective feeling of relaxation, the tone of the biofeedback tells them if they are heading in the right direction. This is very useful for those who find it hard to relax and can easily become frustrated because they think the are not accomplishing anything. However, the biofeedback tells them that they are making a little progress so they are encouraged to keep doing whatever it is they are doing that seems to be taking them in the right direction. Eventually the change becomes large enough to become noticeable subjectively. However, without the biofeedback they never would have achieved that progress.
In this example, subjective relaxation is like a reduction in lap time. It is the result of many, many tiny improvements at all phases of the circuit that ultimately add up to significant time saved. If you could get feedback that you were a tiny amount faster here when you, for example, waited a beat to apply the brake on turn 2, or delayed the turn-in a few feet on turn 4, or breathed off the brake a little earlier in turn 6, etc. then you would know you were heading in the direction of a faster lap time if you just kept doing it. Some kind of reward system for small changes could be helpful for drivers that need something smaller and more concrete to focus on corner after corner, lap after lap. You have talked about many of these things whether it be the sound the tires or engine, paying attention to markers on the track, braking later, braking lighter, moving the braking zone, turning the wheel quicker or slower, etc. It may be possible to create a reward system for all those different components of driving that you recommend that we focus on but forget to do in the heat of the moment of doing the same thing we have got into the habit of doing lap after lap.
I gotta' give you a "like" for your expended effort on this, Ron. For me, that bio-feedback is, in its simplest form, naturally available through my seat-of-the-pants experience. I feel that happens organically enough as we become more mindful, comfortable and relaxed with "being uncomfortable." Ross' quest seems to be getting more folks to experience that in person. I appreciate your deep dive, though. You've been thinking about this approach for a while I'll bet! It's interesting. : )
Hi Ross, you are always pushing us to think outside the box, which I love. Playing Devil's Advocate, here are my comments on "what could possibly go wrong", Thanks - Simon Kirkby
What if a novice driver: Received subjective feedback from their instructor in an electronic, consistent, standardized method immediately after every on-track session — perhaps six categories, all rated on a 1 to 7 scale, with the driver's fastest lap time for the session is factored in
1. This would so depend on the quality of the instruction, and how much time the instructor has between instructing sessions and their own driving sessions. As you pointed out, time can be made for the feedback later on DrivingEvals.com or similar. Not sure of the fastest lap suggestion. I have always believed in the saying "the clock doesn't lie" which is true for race car drivers, but is less helpful when the time is generated by driver who has full on understeer and is being saved by the nannies! I think Garmin is really helping us give some instant electronic feedback. I rarely get in a car these days that doesn't have one installed.
The driver's average lap time (providing a glimpse into consistency) for the session is factored in.
2 Like it other than the "I am being held up by traffic or this person in front of me who won't give a point-by" The gap between fastest and average lap times are factored in.
3. Same as my #2 answer.
A "smoothness rating," based on g-forces, steering angle, and a couple of other factors, is also included.
4. Love this!
Bonus points are awarded for completing pre-work, such as an online course, including an assessment. 5. Nice incentive, but will they improve them as a driver
Some very thoughtful ideas, Ross — any improvements to the experience are a benefit. But, like anything else, will the costs of these additions (sims, electronic monitoring, AI feedback) then be a further roadblock for participation? Between the track rental costs, insurance, staffing cost (flaggers, emergency EMT/tow crews), etc., adding these herein-noted features ain’t gonna be cheap, kids; and rising costs are one of the biggest impediments to participation. And we haven’t even added their personal costs yet — tires, fuel, hotel and travel costs, yada yada yada. I know that “if y’wanna play y’gotta pay”, but reality rears its ugly head in this sport.
My personal opinion is that the individual instructor and his/her approach, skills and ability to instruct are one of the “cheapest” avenues to encourage new drivers. I’ve spent a good amount of my career instructing instructors on how to get through to students; the truth is, as you stated, Ross, that some good drivers can instruct very well — and some can’t. Some even suck at it, I’m sorry to say, and just aren’t a good match for this hobby. And yes, it’s difficult to find talented people who a) have the time and resources, b) are willing to do it for free (or even track time), and c) are also willing to put in the effort to attain the “chops” that make a really good instructor that not only can effectively get accurate information across to a newbie, but also do it in a way that positively encourages their student’s progress. It’s a tough gig — any of us that do it on a regular basis know that, but also know how it feels when the guest “gets it”, when that light bulb goes on.
I don’t purport to know all the answers, but I’ve dealt with enough instructors and sat in on enough eye-glazing, overly-technoid classroom droning to believe that talented, engaging instruction is ground zero for attracting and keeping new participants to our favorite sport. All the comments given here regarding gamification etc. are great ideas, but sims and all that only go so far — and any new student I’ve ever had that came from the racing-video-game world has to a man (or woman) marveled at how different “the real thing “is, as we well know.
Thanks for this great forum, Ross ! ====> Darren Young / L.A.
I think most of us use the seat of the pants to feel what is going on in the car. However, that takes time and experience to develop and not everyone "has a feeling for this" naturally. It is the same with relaxation. My patients with insomnia and anxiety often don't have a feeling for it. However, biofeedback gives them that feedback when it is too small for them to notice it, and amplifies it so they can tell when they are going in the right direction. People who don't have anxiety or insomnia often can't relate to the difficulties patients with these conditions have because they have not experienced it themselves. I see the gamifying approach as a way of giving those who are not blessed with the natural aptitude for car control that you and I may have, an opportunity to learn and progress. I will use snowboarding as an example. Most people take 3 days of falling to get a hang for it (make sure you learn on a hill with a lot of powder or you will injure your wrists and bruise your hip). You have to be really motivated to persist long enough to start to enjoy the sport. If the goal is to help those without as much natural talent for car control to come out and learn and enjoy the sport, then they will need help with the baby steps so that they feel they are making progress.
I think you are absolutely right! Objective and immediate feedback would be better for everyone as would greater refinement of the rank system and instructor feedback/Instruction. The Carv reference is great and applicable, I agree with Steve C on that one.
I would also go a bit further. Part of the issue is cost per seat minute and relative gain. As it is now, it is difficult to know what you are going to get in an event, especially if one is relatively new. As simulation has evolved and become an ever better tool for training incorporating it into performance driving for the hobbyist should be done.
For example, not only incorporating what you suggest above, but the club sets up a baseline metric on a specific course/car in Assetto Corsa (or your sim of choice) and gives targets for levels and advancement. This gives ways to get more time & feedback in between track sessions. Is it enough to advance alone - Of course not! However it can add to the toolbox and seat time/mind time to increase the advancement and allow performance driving to be relevant and part of life more than 6-10 times a year when one is actually at the track as a hobbyist.
Add to that a weekly sim/discord session and now you build a more community in the club. This increases everyone's engagement and keeps the engagement up helping to offset the distractions of the rest of life.
These are all great ideas but they all assume the initial hurdle has been cleared—that we have actually gotten younger people to arrive at the track. A lot of younger people are gaming in a simulator but don’t have the means or even a seed planted to start in this pastime . What if we could somehow incorporate Simulator competition at track events to get younger people there to be involved in that? Then we would get them to our events, around cars, around the track, they could take rides, we could even have a low cost rental car when they want to actually get in a real car and start this sport. I realize that there are barriers to that like money. But there are ways to do this. We have to first get them to want to be at the track.
Sim instruction in the paddock first, and then move on to the track. The older students generally respond to the traditional classroom sessions in a driving school, but the younger students not so much. An instructor can talk for hours and use graphs and videos, but sitting a person behind a sim wheel for 30 minutes would change the entire dynamic.
This could offer a lower cost on ramp as well. $50 for the day or less and get the absolute beginners behind the wheel of a sim, get a ride along with an instructor and get to meet future friends in the paddock.
Gamifying is a great idea. Take a look at the CARV model of ski instructing. A 6 axis gyroscopic device that clips to your ski boot. It links to your smartphone. The app, used with your ear buds, coaches you in real time by giving you “chimes” in your ear when you “hit” your goal while you ski. It gives you a negative signal when you do not. So CARV has gamified skiing for much of the same reason. Skiing is a shrinking sport. The gamification gives immediate feedback and reinforces your improvement. Garmin could probably up their “game” and do this as well as AIM and others. Just a thought while I sit in the airport waiting for another delayed flight lol.
Best
Steve C
There probably is some benefit from gamifying, but I think it goes way beyond that. For example golf and tennis have strong growth among millennials. These two sports are not virtual and are definitely difficult, can be expensive, and take time to become proficient. If you believe Google AI: "Golfers ages 18-34 are the highest group of on course golfers". Emphasis "on course", not simulators, or Topgolf which is high too. https://www.bobbyjoneslinks.com/insights/our-2024-state-of-the-industry-report. This link shows some reasons why golf is growing, some of which could be relevant to tracking. Same for tennis: https://www.usta.com/en/home/stay-current/national/u-s--tennis-participation-grew-for-third-straight-year-in-2022.html.
Here's a few things that we are faced with on tracking:
1. Sticker shock! This is a tough one. More people now either have no desire to work on their cars or nor have the talent to do so than in the past. Shop costs can add up fast. Track time is expensive, travel cost etc., expendables, tires, brakes, etc. There are pretty much no other sports that are this costly on a per event basis. In past there were less horse powered cars on track, now its become an arms race for power. A Miata is a great car for reliability, handling and low maintenance. Show up with one and you're one of very few. Exclusive tracks like Area 27 in B.C. aren't helping either, my guess is that it will be gone in about 10 years.
2. I don't believe lap times provide any benefit for novice drivers. Data is good, but honestly the new driver is overwhelmed already. I know I was when I started. Piling on more stuff would have turned me off. I just wanted to learn the basics, braking, cornering, and throttle. Of course
Catalyst is a great tool for that and I would think that it should suffice as a measuring tool for the person interested in such as they progress. Instructors always should make their student feel like they are the most important person in their company during the time they are at the track. As drivers we should do our best to make the new driver feel part of the community ASAP.
3. Feedback is always good for any generation. I've had good instructors and bad ones. The good ones gave me concise and relevant information, the worst gave me none or wrong. I learned to sort it out eventually, which is a good quality to have in it's self.
4. Don't sell the millennials too short. There are many out there that are willing to take the hard road to get better. Trust me, I've played golf with those that have. I have also coached a number of drivers that have appreciated a straight forward no nonsense approach to the basics. I've also had the unfortunate privilege to coach a few 30 something males in 600+ HP cars that request to be soloed in the afternoon. I give them a "trip to the woodshed" lecture that would either change them or they'd never come back. Unlike golf, there are no Mulligans in this sport.
My 2 cents (3 cents w/inflation) Do your best to help that new driver and encourage your friends to come out and track with you. Have them ride along, if your venue supports such. Shame on the ones that don't, are you listening PCA?
That is a great point John. We have had problems attracting younger people to racing for a long time because there is not much that can be done to a modern car by someone not raised around vehicles. The thought of showing up to race and not being able to even do simple repairs on a car really does frighten prospective drivers. I have heard that again and again over the last 2 decades.
Great thoughts Ross. I like the challenge to our thinking. To engage the future DE drivers the process likely needs to change or in 10 years time it’ll be a thin crowd perhaps. There is a whole other discussion on why that matters, but I won’t bore you with that here. I like your approaches as well as what others have stated above. While I would like to offer you solutions the creativity side is not a strength, while execution is. So, how do we change the mindset at this clubs and organizers? I like the idea of subsidizing a first event and dare I say maybe even an old track set up limits or E36. Give them a taste. Get them excited. Make it fun!! Not all so serious all the time. Is there a national HPDE council (I don’t think it’s MSF, but maybe) that can help or do you see this as a totally grassroots change at the local or club level?
A lot of good ideas, Ross. It’s something that I also find troubling, but not just with young drivers. A lot of my friends with whom I started driving on track with gave up because of restrictions, which we all suspect are insurance based. They quit and went racing. I do both but I’m unusual in that sense.
Other things to consider:
1. Instructing quality isn’t linked to automotive instructing. It’s a broader mindset and we need a more open perspective.
2. Racing truly pushes you to appreciate the finer points of driving yet it competes for resources with DE. So is it better if you have racers with fewer DE days per year? IMO, yes if #1 is addressed.
3. Convenience or lack there of is a factor. If I go to COTA or mid-oh or any other track far from Boston, it’s a 5-day commitment, ignoring costs, track-capable car, insurance, etc. Not sure how to address yet, but tried something with my nephew who just turned 18… worked quite well last summer but I had to take a big financial risk.
4. Keeping good drivers with instructor capabilities. That may mean in some level actually allowing w2w racing.
5. Gamification can also be implemented at the driver/instructor level. I always use lap times and set daily goals, measuring success lap after lap, screaming the big wins and the smooth inputs and anything else that’s important, and downloading after every session and day. Seems to work and the chief instructors I work with in various groups seem to trust me with it.
6. Awareness. Most people don’t know you can do this. That’s easy to solve, and stage sport is infectious so it doesn’t require Super Bowl adverts…
In closing, your points are well taken and will require a broad collaboration to make the sport survive current legislations…
I'm all in for installing a black box (that's orange) with AI analyzing my session, great idea! The variability in what we bring to the students is massive. Of course I think I'm doing a pretty good job as an instructor, wait a minute, how do I know what I don't know?? Three run groups get us more time, but I have 200 hp, so how much fun is it worrying about the guys with 400, or 600 hp, sometimes it's not! How do we solve for that, more run groups speed and lap time determined, sounds good, we need 14 hours of daylight, should be easy.
Personally, and perhaps to play the Devil's advocate, I am OK with not having large numbers of drivers enter the sport as long as there is enough to maintain the driving and learning opportunities for those that are already interested. However, to comment, on gamifying the sport, it is important to maintain a certain quality of entrant who takes the sport seriously enough to keep it respectful and safe. It is more than just a game when your equipment and safety is on the line.
Having said that, I believe the multilevel aspect that you are describing could be much more valuable than just making it more interesting to those with short attention spans. You may have heard of "biofeedback". This is where you measure physiological parameters of the body that you are not able to be consciously aware of and give feedback to the subject about what direction they are heading. For example, applying 2 electrodes to the palm of the hand can measure the electrical resistance of the skin between them. When he are tense or nervous, the sympathetic nervous system activates and increases sweating which reduces the electrical resistance. When we relax, the sympathetic system activity reduces and the parasympathetic system activity increases resulting in reduced sweating, drying of the palms and increasing the electrical resistance. If a sound is applied to the resistance, it can change, for example becoming lower in tone indicating to the person that they are becoming more relaxed. We can do the same thing with heart rate, muscle tone, heart rate variability (the subtle change in heart rate as it changes from beat to beat) and even EEG (brain wave) activity. The subject then attempts a relaxation technique and even before they experience a noticeable subjective feeling of relaxation, the tone of the biofeedback tells them if they are heading in the right direction. This is very useful for those who find it hard to relax and can easily become frustrated because they think the are not accomplishing anything. However, the biofeedback tells them that they are making a little progress so they are encouraged to keep doing whatever it is they are doing that seems to be taking them in the right direction. Eventually the change becomes large enough to become noticeable subjectively. However, without the biofeedback they never would have achieved that progress.
In this example, subjective relaxation is like a reduction in lap time. It is the result of many, many tiny improvements at all phases of the circuit that ultimately add up to significant time saved. If you could get feedback that you were a tiny amount faster here when you, for example, waited a beat to apply the brake on turn 2, or delayed the turn-in a few feet on turn 4, or breathed off the brake a little earlier in turn 6, etc. then you would know you were heading in the direction of a faster lap time if you just kept doing it. Some kind of reward system for small changes could be helpful for drivers that need something smaller and more concrete to focus on corner after corner, lap after lap. You have talked about many of these things whether it be the sound the tires or engine, paying attention to markers on the track, braking later, braking lighter, moving the braking zone, turning the wheel quicker or slower, etc. It may be possible to create a reward system for all those different components of driving that you recommend that we focus on but forget to do in the heat of the moment of doing the same thing we have got into the habit of doing lap after lap.
I gotta' give you a "like" for your expended effort on this, Ron. For me, that bio-feedback is, in its simplest form, naturally available through my seat-of-the-pants experience. I feel that happens organically enough as we become more mindful, comfortable and relaxed with "being uncomfortable." Ross' quest seems to be getting more folks to experience that in person. I appreciate your deep dive, though. You've been thinking about this approach for a while I'll bet! It's interesting. : )
Hi Ross, you are always pushing us to think outside the box, which I love. Playing Devil's Advocate, here are my comments on "what could possibly go wrong", Thanks - Simon Kirkby
What if a novice driver: Received subjective feedback from their instructor in an electronic, consistent, standardized method immediately after every on-track session — perhaps six categories, all rated on a 1 to 7 scale, with the driver's fastest lap time for the session is factored in
1. This would so depend on the quality of the instruction, and how much time the instructor has between instructing sessions and their own driving sessions. As you pointed out, time can be made for the feedback later on DrivingEvals.com or similar. Not sure of the fastest lap suggestion. I have always believed in the saying "the clock doesn't lie" which is true for race car drivers, but is less helpful when the time is generated by driver who has full on understeer and is being saved by the nannies! I think Garmin is really helping us give some instant electronic feedback. I rarely get in a car these days that doesn't have one installed.
The driver's average lap time (providing a glimpse into consistency) for the session is factored in.
2 Like it other than the "I am being held up by traffic or this person in front of me who won't give a point-by" The gap between fastest and average lap times are factored in.
3. Same as my #2 answer.
A "smoothness rating," based on g-forces, steering angle, and a couple of other factors, is also included.
4. Love this!
Bonus points are awarded for completing pre-work, such as an online course, including an assessment. 5. Nice incentive, but will they improve them as a driver
Some very thoughtful ideas, Ross — any improvements to the experience are a benefit. But, like anything else, will the costs of these additions (sims, electronic monitoring, AI feedback) then be a further roadblock for participation? Between the track rental costs, insurance, staffing cost (flaggers, emergency EMT/tow crews), etc., adding these herein-noted features ain’t gonna be cheap, kids; and rising costs are one of the biggest impediments to participation. And we haven’t even added their personal costs yet — tires, fuel, hotel and travel costs, yada yada yada. I know that “if y’wanna play y’gotta pay”, but reality rears its ugly head in this sport.
My personal opinion is that the individual instructor and his/her approach, skills and ability to instruct are one of the “cheapest” avenues to encourage new drivers. I’ve spent a good amount of my career instructing instructors on how to get through to students; the truth is, as you stated, Ross, that some good drivers can instruct very well — and some can’t. Some even suck at it, I’m sorry to say, and just aren’t a good match for this hobby. And yes, it’s difficult to find talented people who a) have the time and resources, b) are willing to do it for free (or even track time), and c) are also willing to put in the effort to attain the “chops” that make a really good instructor that not only can effectively get accurate information across to a newbie, but also do it in a way that positively encourages their student’s progress. It’s a tough gig — any of us that do it on a regular basis know that, but also know how it feels when the guest “gets it”, when that light bulb goes on.
I don’t purport to know all the answers, but I’ve dealt with enough instructors and sat in on enough eye-glazing, overly-technoid classroom droning to believe that talented, engaging instruction is ground zero for attracting and keeping new participants to our favorite sport. All the comments given here regarding gamification etc. are great ideas, but sims and all that only go so far — and any new student I’ve ever had that came from the racing-video-game world has to a man (or woman) marveled at how different “the real thing “is, as we well know.
Thanks for this great forum, Ross ! ====> Darren Young / L.A.
I think most of us use the seat of the pants to feel what is going on in the car. However, that takes time and experience to develop and not everyone "has a feeling for this" naturally. It is the same with relaxation. My patients with insomnia and anxiety often don't have a feeling for it. However, biofeedback gives them that feedback when it is too small for them to notice it, and amplifies it so they can tell when they are going in the right direction. People who don't have anxiety or insomnia often can't relate to the difficulties patients with these conditions have because they have not experienced it themselves. I see the gamifying approach as a way of giving those who are not blessed with the natural aptitude for car control that you and I may have, an opportunity to learn and progress. I will use snowboarding as an example. Most people take 3 days of falling to get a hang for it (make sure you learn on a hill with a lot of powder or you will injure your wrists and bruise your hip). You have to be really motivated to persist long enough to start to enjoy the sport. If the goal is to help those without as much natural talent for car control to come out and learn and enjoy the sport, then they will need help with the baby steps so that they feel they are making progress.
There are a number of "Arrive-and-Drive" karting experiences that seem to follow this rubric. : )