Speed Secrets: Sim Training

For a little over a year now, Ross Bentley from Speed Secrets has been helping sim racers with his Sim Racer Academy membership program:

I began using a simulator myself about twenty years ago, first as a bit of fun, then as a way to help my own driving, and mostly as a tool to coach other drivers. I’m the first to admit that I’m not the best sim racer — I’m far from being an “alien” (as the super-fast sim racers are referred to). That’s never been my goal. My focus, really, is to help other drivers, using a sim to help real-world drivers and sim racers. That’s my sweet spot, what I enjoy the most.

There are generally two different types of sim racers:

1. Those who are using a sim to help with their real-world driving
2. Those who use sim racing as an end in itself

Sure, there are some drivers who do a bit of both, but I’m talking about what their main focus is.

A number of years ago, I put on a workshop in the Boston area for real-world drivers aimed at helping them learn to use simulators better. In preparation, I sat down and thought about the stages someone new to the use of a sim goes through:

1. Getting used to the feel of the controls: This is where many real-world drivers get frustrated because it doesn’t feel the same, so they give up on it.
2. Learning tracks: A large percentage of the real-world drivers who get past stage #1 stick around here, focused mainly on using their sim to learn and re-learn a track.
3. Developing driving techniques and skills: A smaller percentage of real-world drivers really dig into using their sim to hone their skills, focused on their use of the pedals and steering wheel, as well as their vision.
4. Developing mental skills: A very small percentage of real-world drivers use simulators to develop and fine-tune their mental skills, although some do so unintentionally.

Yes, the majority of drivers use a sim for stages #2 and 3 (if they move on from stage #1). If they get into the fourth stage, it’s usually not in a deliberate way. In fact, what they pick up on with their mental game is coincidental.

In developing the Sim Racer Academy (something I spent over a year researching and creating), I thought a lot about what the areas of focus should be, and came up with this:

1. Driving technique
2. Mental game
3. Track knowledge
4. Racecraft
5. Car setup
6. Practice strategy

When I look at how I’ve approached coaching real-world drivers over the past three decades, it’s having specific, deliberate practice strategies that I believe has made the biggest difference. So, I was super-excited about sharing how I did that with sim racers.

What about you?

Do you use a sim? If so, where do you fit in terms of what you’re using it for? Learning tracks? Developing your techniques and skills? Improving your mental game?

Focus Training

Let’s assume you’ve made it through stages 1 to 3 from my list above. A simple example of how to use a sim to improve your mental game is focusing on… well, focus. I’ve said it many times that the best drivers lose their focus just as much as anyone else — even you. The difference that elite-level pros demonstrate is the ability to regain focus much faster than most drivers.

Picture a driver going through Turn 1, making a mistake, and then thinking about that mistake all the way around the rest of the track — or even just through the next corner — while telling themselves to “Focus,” and “Don’t think about what happened in Turn 1.”

The best drivers very quickly file away a mistake into a compartment in their minds — they make note of it, but then focus ahead on what’s coming up. They know they can’t fix a mistake they just made until they get back around to that part of the track again, so they file it away and deal with it on the approach to Turn 1 on the next lap.

It’s this ability to regain focus that makes drivers mentally strong, and it’s something that you can practice when using a simulator. Most drivers find sims even harder to maintain focus on than in a real car (perhaps because of the reduced consequences of a mistake), so any amount of time you practice regaining your focus there will greatly improve your ability on real-world tracks.

If you use a sim, practice regaining focus. Each time you lose focus, use your trigger word/phrase (such as “Eyes up – look ahead”), and come back into the moment, thinking about what’s coming up ahead. The more you do this, the better you’ll get at quickly regaining your focus.

Fast, Fast

Some drivers take a little too long to get up to speed when they get on track. Some of that is due to not knowing how to build heat in their tires, but most of the time it’s a mindset thing — their mindset is one of “I’m going to take my time getting warmed up, along with my tires, and then I’ll get going.” Unfortunately, sometimes this means that by the time they’re warmed up, it’s almost the end of the session. So, programming your mind to be “Fast, fast,” is important — and it’s something you can practice with a sim.

Each time you get on your sim, tell yourself, “Fast, fast.” Then practice getting up to speed as quickly as you can; do no more than six laps, get out of your sim, go walk around, and after at least fifteen minutes, get back on the sim and do the same thing. Getting in and out of your sim, and only doing a maximum of six laps each time gets you into the mindset of being “Fast, fast.”

Be Aware of Your Hands & Feet

As for developing physical skills and techniques, one of the best things you can do is set up your smartphone or a video camera and point it at your feet and hands, and then review their movements after you drive on the sim for a while. You may surprise yourself with what you see — maybe because of how good you are, or maybe not…. But the first step in improving something is being aware of what needs improving. That’s one of the things a good coach does — make the driver aware of what to work on — and reviewing video of your hands and feet will help you coach yourself.

May the sim be with you. Or you with the sim. Or something like that!