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Looking ahead and Hand / Eye Coordination

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    Looking ahead and Hand / Eye Coordination

    Anyone can learn how to drive. But only a small percentage of all liscenced drivers really know how to drive. Most driver just got through the motions, making the art of driving something taken for granted. Not thought about, just done.

    Bad habits are learned and perpetuated. I got my driver lisence back in the summer of 1986. I learned bad habits and perpetuated them. It wasnt until I got my first BMW that I even gave the art of driving a remote thought. When I attended my first first autocross and drivers school my eyes were opened and luckily I had a lot of untapped natural talent to overcome my bad driving habits.

    But talent can only take you so far. One rapidly climbs the proverbial leraning curve only to hit a wall. A wall constructed by something as simple as looking ahead and hand / eye coordination.

    I wasnt looking to see where I was going. I wasnt anticipating. Not thinking. Just reacting. It was slowing me down.

    One of the hardest things I had to learn was to trust my eyes and look ahead. To take my eyes of the stretch of course right in front of the car. To take my eyes of the steering wheel when I make a turn. Since I did not trust my eyes, I had difficulty coordinating making turns. I always wanted to look down, not ahead. Not fast and not safe.

    It wasnt until I attended the Evolution Autocross school that I became conciously aware of looking ahead and of hand / eye coordination. The instructors pounded looking ahead into our heads. To trust our eyes. I literally had to force myself to look ahead and it was hard. I always wanted to go back to my old habits. I had to make looking ahead an item that was always in in the forefront of my concience.

    Eventually I began to trust my eyes. I allowed my arms to steer the car in the direction my eyes were looking. I was looking ahead and I got faster and I began to see for the first time.

    Now, several years later, I dont have ti think about it anymore. I iust do it. HoweverI I have found that certain activities help looking ahead and hand eye / coordination sharp.

    I first noticed this when I was racing R/C cars. In this case I was not in the drivers seat, but way removed on a riser. I still had to look ahead, keep track of my car, anticipate other traffic and send control inputs to my car via my radio without looking at my radio. In other words you had to trust your eyes and really work on depth perception. After several months on R/C racing I noticed that I could catch things better, especially things that fall of a table at the edge of my peripheral vision.

    Hand eye coordination got even better when I started racing 1/12 scale GTP cars with modifed motors. These cars are blindingly fast and heavy focus and concentration for 8 minutes are required.

    Another thing that has helped my hand eye coordination and added a third dimesion was flying R/C airplanes. Now you have to think in terms of three axis vs. two and control the plane without looking at the controls and also compensate for direction reversals (plane coming at you) depth perception is ven more important here as one does not have the defined boundaries found on a R/C car race track.

    Lastly another thing I use to keep improving my looking ahead is Grand Tourismo 3 used in conjunction with a force feedback steering wheel. While the driving feel of the game leaves a lot to be desired (compared to tracking a real car) I find it ideal for practicing looking ahead. A few weeks worth of virtual racing keeps my looking ahead skills sharp.

    If you want real wheel to wheel racing, indoor karting is great as well. Not only does it help looking but also introduces momentum maintennance and rewards smoothness.

    #2
    I had the lesson of looking ahead pounded into my brain since before I could come close to driving age. Its absolutely essential. Most drivers concentrate ONLY on the car infront of them. This is the worst type of driving one could possibly do.

    How far ahead I look depends on traffic and the speed I'm traveling. For example if I'm driving 30mph I might look 200-300 feet infront of me if I'm doin 60+ its more like 500+, and I use "peripheral" vison to keep track of traffic infront of me and beside me.

    Look where you want the car to go. Your hands will follow suit, this is perhaps the hardest thing to get a feel for as it feels totally unnatural. Skid control, I use this annology: If you're looking at the tractor trailer you're sliding towards, thats what you're going to hit.



    Damn, this section has had some AWESOME threads. Stuff I wouldnt have thought to bring up.
    Below the radar...

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      #3
      aah my one of the numerous areas I am working on :D

      ..look carefully at the picture below: "keep looking ahead, keep looking ahead....my mentor/buddy points he he" It's kinda growing on me more now and just as all habits it's taking a while but I feel myself getting better at least...

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        #4
        My faith in the E30 world has been restored, excellent thread
        BEERTECH

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          #5
          I agree, that was one of the toughest areas for me to get down. At first you don't trust your eyes and you get flustered and start missing your apexes and exits. I had several instructors who helped me with this, I'd turn in, then they would instantly say "Look up, at Apex, now to exit, down the hill.." Stuff like that really helps. And I'd come home from the track and get into all the old bad habits and have to re-learn them. It's best to practice all the good habits on the street, so I try to look as far ahead as I can see. Excellent thread Mario, it's guys like you who make the E30 community great :up:
          -Ted

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            #6
            i'm also still working on this one. i don't get to autoX alot but it's really hard to do.

            it looks more aeasy when you do it in real world driving. how come it's so hard to do it on the track?

            i'll keep trying though.

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