F1technical.net

We all are seem to be able know where our car is and know how close the car is to the other things. But I dont know how our brains do that. I mean I know you dont look to your feet while while walking or look at you hand while you are trying to grab things, but we have nerves in our bodyparts that lets the brain know where it is placed. But in our cars tires for example or hood we dont have nerves, and we certainly dont see them either, like how can you know where the edge of the hood is? Or how can you know how close the right front tire is to the apex of the corner?

It's a learned skill. If you look at most people who drive, they haven't got the slightest clue where the edge of the car is in relation to everything else. This is readily apparent when they need a to squeeze through gaps but don't despite having enough room. I don't think it's much different to knowing where your hands are, you always have a rough idea where they are, but you will still often miss grabbing things if you aren't directly looking at the object.

A learned skill as Cold Fussion said, though it comes easier the more aptitude you have for it.

I have heard a lot of times people who are in in the passager seat of my car that I drive very close to objects or manoeuvre very close around objects, without ever hitting them. Even if the objects is at their side and hence are in a better position to judge them. Most of them drive themselves. It simply comes down to having a better feeling of the dimensions of your car, without thinking too much about it. If you think too much about where you are related to the object, you'll definitely take bigger margins.

F1 driver come with a very elaborate spatial awareness. They spend so much time in both the simulator and the actual car that they know exactly where their car is. The reason why crashes occur is that they misjudge the dimensions and position of the car next to them.

Perfect example how the great drivers have spatial awareness:

WaikeCU wrote:Perfect example how the great drivers have spatial awareness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDnnfizWCm4

Thanks for the great content, really unbeliviable skills espically from kimi.

But spatial awereness around a car is easier in F1 since the wheels are open and you can see the from inside the car.

Erunanethiel wrote:
But spatial awereness around a car is easier in F1 since the wheels are open and you can see the from inside the car.

Not having driven one I could be wrong, but something tells me this is untrue. It's not a go-cart. The driver sits so deep in the cockpit there is much of the car he can't see at all. Just like with regular driving, the driver must memorize the size of their machine and use that info as well as trust it.

F1 drivers can't see the front wings. The chassis is very high. You probably can see the upper part of the tyres though.

IMHO a person can greatly improve his or her spatial awareness, but there will be a ceiling. In other words I think that a person who starts out with naturally poor spatial awareness and trains to improve it will never reach the level of a person who has naturally high spatial awareness when they have trained to improve.

turbof1 wrote:F1 drivers can't see the front wings. The chassis is very high. You probably can see the upper part of the tyres though.

That exactly it, they see the top quarter of the tires only.

At this speed you are also not fully concentrating on where your car is at the present. You have to constantly look down the road, through the turns to "slow" your thought process down. You will however be aware if you have missed your marker so you can adapt for the next lap. It would freak me out if I only looked down at where I was on the track and realized how fast I was actually going. There is a good reason that race cars and bikes don't typically have a speedo, the seat of your pants and a lap timer is good enough to tell you how slow you are.

Some drivers lap times reduce when they are in the heat of a battle, not just because they are defending and are off the race line but because they are now using a % of their concentration on the other competitor and not on how to maximize their laptimes. The best drivers can do both.

Erunanethiel wrote:

WaikeCU wrote:Perfect example how the great drivers have spatial awareness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDnnfizWCm4

Thanks for the great content, really unbeliviable skills espically from kimi.

But spatial awereness around a car is easier in F1 since the wheels are open and you can see the from inside the car.

I don't think it's actually that easy. First of all, drivers can't see their own front wing and I believe at a certain moment when a car is alongside, it can't be seen in their mirrors.

I do believe Kimi is one of those drivers that has the best spatial awareness on the grid.

Here's another example:

Sorry to interrupt, gentlemen. But I have to say, the kind of close quarter battling on track shown in those two videos is precisely what I as a race fan want to see more of, not the latest front wing curlicue or a close up of a blown wheel nut. Not every corner all race long, of course, but more than we get now.

Watching someone zoom past in a DRS zone is , by comparison, the difference between watching a porn video and actually having hot sex. There really is no comparison.

Now back to your regular programming, already in progress!

I believe all professional racing drivers have incredible "spatial awareness". Just watch them on the track, placing their tires with extreme precision in corners, over curbs, lap after lap. There are some critical corners, if you run too far inside or outside by the smallest of margins, your times suffer horribly. Yet they nail those corners with incredible consistency.

So if they know exactly where the tire contact patches are, they have spatial awareness.

But what happens is that occasionally drivers come together. The reason is not "spatial awareness", but rather poor visibility for monitoring the other car, inexperience at running close, and/or that the drivers are not communicating with each other, and not aware of the other's intentions. Anyone who has watched Indycar on ovals has witnessed cars running incredibly close to each other, lap after lap, flat-out. They can do it because they are experienced at this kind of action and they have a very good idea of what the other driver is doing.

WaikeCU wrote:

Erunanethiel wrote:

WaikeCU wrote:Perfect example how the great drivers have spatial awareness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDnnfizWCm4

Thanks for the great content, really unbeliviable skills espically from kimi.

But spatial awereness around a car is easier in F1 since the wheels are open and you can see the from inside the car.

I don't think it's actually that easy. First of all, drivers can't see their own front wing and I believe at a certain moment when a car is alongside, it can't be seen in their mirrors.

I do believe Kimi is one of those drivers that has the best spatial awareness on the grid.

Here's another example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_irUPwPoaA

This is actually more impressive since Raikkonen knew exactly where Schumacher's tyre was, and where schumacher's sidepod was. He utilised the extra space behind the wheel near the sidepod, to pinpoint accuracy.

Actually this is a bit misleading:

" I mean I know you dont look to your feet while while walking or look at you hand while you are trying to grab things, but we have nerves in our bodyparts that lets the brain know where it is placed."

That, also, is a learned skill. If you leave a baby asleep unrestrained it will wake up screaming. If you had been watching the baby then the reason is that it just punched itself in the face. It knows how to move its arms, but doesn't know where its hands will end up.

Greg Locock wrote:Actually this is a bit misleading:

" I mean I know you dont look to your feet while while walking or look at you hand while you are trying to grab things, but we have nerves in our bodyparts that lets the brain know where it is placed."

That, also, is a learned skill. If you leave a baby asleep unrestrained it will wake up screaming. If you had been watching the baby then the reason is that it just punched itself in the face. It knows how to move its arms, but doesn't know where its hands will end up.

have you heard of proprioception, if not you should, its quite interesting.
Edit: and also kineasteic sense, this also proves knowimg where one of your body part is diferrent than knowimg where you tires are on the track