The Value of Sim Racing....

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by ElNino, Feb 21, 2017.

  1. ElNino

    ElNino Well-Known Member

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    Roughly $3700 US, plus low estimate of $10,000 in medical bills.

    Allow me to explain...

    Driving home from work today, doing maybe 50mph in a 45 zone. Upcoming light is green. Im going straight. As i approach the light, the big SUV (surprise) in the oncoming left turn lane pulls out directly in front of me, slowly starting to make a left.

    So now i just see this big blue SUV (4runner maybe?) directly in my path. All i can think is "Yup, im going to hit that". Meanwhile, my instincts have already kicked in. Heavy braking at first, backing off slowly. Executed well enough that i was able to steer to the left as the car is slowing down. No ABS activated (still kinda wondering about that).

    This was all instinctual...no time to think. 3 years ago i would NOT have been conditioned to make this move. As a result, by being able to still turn left under full control, while threshold braking, i missed this SUV by a foot or so to the left.

    I came to a stop and checked my mirrors. Other cars stopping behind me. Other driver drove off of course. I lay on the horn for 2-3 seconds (more instinct) then check mirrors again and drive off.

    Thats when i realized my actions, and where they were learned and practiced. Mostly on R3E. Threshold braking, avoiding crashed drivers and early brakers, and trailbraking in general...it all came into play.

    Id be willing to bet that if the same thing happened 3 years ago, id have hit the guy, and he'd be paying for 2 new vehicles (I drove my beater 03 forester today, usually drive it twice a week), as well as medical bills for injuries. Major collision averted. Thanks for reading and all those on the track who have schooled me along the way!

    And heres my Forester...just had ball joint replaced that fixed brake vibration issue, picked up the day before the incident. Good timing.
    IMAG0639_zpszj53zlfo.jpg
     
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  2. jbodin

    jbodin Member

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    Glad you're okay! I've had at least a few similar experiences where my automatic response was akin to something I would find myself doing in a sim, translated into Real-Life(TM) where it actually ended up WORKING (and saving my physical harm and car repair/replacement costs).

    My most recent example was a few months ago, driving back to work after lunch -- I had two co-workers in the car with me, and we were on a 4-lane, 2-way city street, intersecting with another 4-lane/2-way street at an intersection with sporadic traffic (not all that busy). I had been waiting at the intersection for the light to change, and when it did, the intersection was clear and there hadn't been any traffic for 10 - 20 seconds before the light changed, so I stepped on the gas and started to enter the intersection. I saw some motion in my peripheral vision to my right and jammed on the brakes, coming to a quick stop as I transitioned rapidly from accelerating to STOPPED . . . and I stopped just in time for a car to go speeding through the intersection at about 45 - 50 miles per hour. The driver was on a cell phone, talking, completely oblivious to the fact that he was blowing through a red light.

    Now, in comparison to your tale, all I did was start, then stop, which isn't a real "high-skill" activity, but both my passengers were absolutely STUNNED because they didn't see the guy until he was halfway through the intersection, and they were AMAZED that I had not only saw him, but reacted in time.

    I almost dismissed it as a lucky fluke, but I realized that what saved the day for me was that I am in the habit of keeping a wide and "far ahead" view of the road in front of me and around me, and I get that from sim racing, plain and simple. Having triple monitors also helps in terms of learning to keep an eye on things in your peripheral vision, but multiplayer racing alone also helped make me more acutely aware of the fact that what you CAN'T see in your periphery is almost more important than what you CAN see, and once you DO see something, you'd better be ready to respond IMMEDIATELY or it will already be too late.

    And I'm convinced that it was THAT aspect of sim racing that helped save me from what would have been a VERY messy T-boning that day (and probably some very bad injuries for me and my passengers).

    Thank you, sim racing! :)
     
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    Last edited: Feb 21, 2017
  3. Not Lifting Off

    Not Lifting Off Well-Known Member

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    I dont think its a sim racing only thing, more of a gamers mentality. Keeping your brain active, cognitive and motor skills in good order, always ready to react in an instant, the things that come almost naturally when you have been playing games for a while. Times like these when if you hadnt been a gamer of sorts you may not of had the reactions or reflexes to react in a timely manner.
    There has never been any doubt in my mind that gaming helps keep you on your toes more so than not, playing games on and off for 25+ years ive always been sure of it, now we are seeing studies and recomendations for older folks to play basic games for them very reasons, reflexes, motor skills, cognitive skills in old age, keeping the mind active helping to combat the slowdown that comes naturally with age.

    Nice stories and good to hear no-one was hurt and if sim racing is all you do then it definitely could be down to it, its just gaming in general and what it can do for you and your mind in a positive way.
     
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  4. Cosmic

    Cosmic Well-Known Member

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    SUV guy plays wreckfest
     
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  5. ElNino

    ElNino Well-Known Member

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    ^^^^ LOL so do I!

    @Not Lifting Off i hear you on the reflexes and sharp brain thing...that was definitely a part of this. But im convinced a good chunk was also the hours of braking and avoidance practice ive had from sim racing. Of course, that doesnt mean you have to be convinced of the same, just stating my experience!
     
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  6. Not Lifting Off

    Not Lifting Off Well-Known Member

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    I was agreeing with you, im one that definitely dosnt need convincing that games help in one way or another, i was generalising, you are picking out your sim racing experience, it all comes back to the same thing.
     
  7. tothrauldaniel

    tothrauldaniel Member

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    Off course sim racing improves your driving skills in real life, we are learning competition driving techniques that is all about control at the edge of grip after all, the same stuff real race drivers learn. Moving from sim to real life is just like moving from one sim to another, you need to adapt to new physics and feeling the edge thru you body, but with enough practice I believe every good sim racer could be an ok race driver, look at Lucas Ordonez and others. If physical fitness is not at the level required look what happened to Greger Huttu, but he did great as well. Moving to real life you sort of take it from scratch but the same basic principles apply that you learned in sim racing but without a restart button, so no wonder it works. :)
     
  8. GooseCreature

    GooseCreature Well-Known Member

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    See people, multiplayer first corner melees save lives!!!!! ;)

    Seriously though, I concur, I shouldn't have any reflexes with the amount of drugs in my bloodstream but I too am still here, I believe solely because I spend/spent hours in Sims avoiding chaos!
    Even a mashed muscle retains memory! :confused:

    * All drugs mentioned in this article are for medical purposes only! honest!! :rolleyes:
     
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  9. DreamsKnight

    DreamsKnight Well-Known Member

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    crossing through sims forum, topic like this are usual and alwasys is a speach about driving, braking bla bla bla bla

    my usual question instead is: what about the underwear?


    :D :D
     
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  10. Mr_Mints_Taboo

    Mr_Mints_Taboo Well-Known Member

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    Shame it doesn't always work the other way.
    I drive a manual car in real life, and ride a motorbike with proper gears. I know what a clutch does!

    At Christmas, I got a set of T3PA pedals, but have avoided using that 3rd pedal until last night.
    4 or 5 Formula Junior gearboxes are now waiting to be recycled into something less exciting.

    I will persevere, but expect more scrap metal before I get it.

    I thought that was your iRacing bill for the year! :)

    I wasn't wearing any! Man-Cave rules - No Underwear.
     
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  11. ElNino

    ElNino Well-Known Member

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    Surprisingly still clean!! Well, as clean as it was before hand....
     
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  12. Karting06

    Karting06 Well-Known Member Beta tester

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    I was about 11-12 years old when I first installed the demo version of GTR 2.
    So, I first did SimRacing before driving on the road.

    Now, my sister is learning to drive and my mother said that she didn't have any kind of stress when I was learning it, but she cannot say the same for my sister. So, maybe, I already had some kind of reflexes (like for braking).
     
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  13. Henri Puustinen

    Henri Puustinen Well-Known Member

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    SUV driver was in a hurry to drive backwards in free to play public server...