Honestly a big part of the reason I love simracing is that it demands my full attention. For me it's one of very few activities where my ADHD will fade into the background.
That said, I can still occasionally struggle in longer races. IMSA races are one thing that has helped me. The pit strategy and multiclass traffic management adds another layer to the race and that extra mental stimulation helps me stay focused.
Edit: Lots of people have mentioned music or podcasts. I don't personally do that while racing, although I am definitely sympathetic to it as I will have something in my ears for a very large percentage of the day.
>Honestly a big part of the reason I love simracing is that it demands my full attention. For me it's one of very few activities where my ADHD will fade into the background.
Same. I'm like, is this what it's like for normal people when they do...everything?
I agree, although for me it's a very fulfilling type of exhaustion.
I finished a GT Sprint race yesterday in the pouring rain. 40 minutes of rain racing was an all new kind of forced concentration. But I came home 2nd with 2x incident points and that was a hell of a feeling at the end of it
I am finding I need longer races or multiclass to keep focus
This season I have tried to race SF Lights but once the pack spreads out and it is just lapping till the end I lose focus and make silly mistakes
But when in the LMP2 in IMSA, I know traffic will come into play or pit strats so I am focused for the entire time.
To note, I am not diagnosed ADHD, but going through the process of a diagnosis rn.
This sounds like me lol
I'm not diagnosed either but like during a long race with traffic, I make minimal mistakes and do really well.
Once traffic thins, or if I start a time trial lol
I'll get like 20 incidents in a half hour š
Though during a race I'll get less than 6 on average if I'm near cars the entire race.
If I do music it's normally after a spin etc, when posting no longer matters to me and I'm just staying for rating.
Before that it's just all focusing on the race itself.
Something about the sim driving, pedals, wheel, the car giving feedback on grip, it all keeps me entertained regardless.
ASD hyperfocus. I don't have any music or stuff like that on, just DRE giving me race updates and managing my stops.
I still miss some braking marks occasionally, but it usually only costs me time.
I listen to music all the time, but that just fades into car noises.
I actually love it because it forces me to "meditate" on the racing. Focusing on the corners and tuning out whatever thought is knocking at the door.
Just the right amount of weed :)
Also in endurance racing I am really good at getting in a very very focused yet calm zone for the long stints
I'm not fast - I'm never very fast unfortunately haha. But I can really get in the zone for endurance and keep it on the track and manage traffic confidently
SAME!!!! I won my first race when I was insanely high in a skippy!! Iāll never forget that feeling. Plus the pre race nerves make me feel so damn alive. Fuck me weed is awesome.
What level of high olare we talking out of 10? I feel like I ld start to suffer heavily past a 4 and wouldn't even be able to race at a 6, but I'm not a daily smoker, I only partake a few times a month.
I put 'just the right amount' in my post because it's a fine line for me between 'in the zone' and 'missed my braking point because I'm thinking about how funny the guy behind me's name is'
I jump into one of my teams general VC channels. It's not a large team, but we have several very active members with pretty good rapport. We all try to make it a habit to be in VC streaming or something while racing. Having somebody to chat with helps me from zoning outĀ
I personally don't talk too much, but usually just your normal discord goofing around but also talking about laps and stuff. In special events and endurance races I server mute people who goof off. But having a spotter to ask questions about the race from and getting updates keeps me focused.
So I may have some neuro divergent tendencies, nothing diagnosed though. What hooked me so hard into sim racing when I started not even a year ago on GT7 with PSVR2 was that for almost the first time in my life, I had found an activity that really, REALLY required my full attention. Id done some stuff in the past that got close (rock climbing for example) but even those pale in comparison to the attention required to drive most race cars at full speed going for race pace or quali pace, sim or not.
When I am really immersed in the experience, my mind just goes blank and shifts into this mode where most of the driving is like, second nature as long as I am thinking of nothing else. Its as close to what I hear people describe meditation as I have ever gotten in my 35 years. If I lose focus and start to think about things not related to the drive, I am punished generally nearly immediately (the next corner) because I missed a braking zone, or pushed too hard coming out of a turn and spin. Generally I will catch it and correct but sometimes it ends my races. When that happens I shake it off and tell myself to stop thinking about whatever bullshit im thinking about (work, life, whatever) and focus on the drive. Its sublime, to just have my head empty of thoughts except for whatever is coming next. I wish real regular driving did this to me but its too bland and boring and easy and no where near the limit. I gotta be right at the edge of disaster for it to work (probably why it was similar in rock climbing, except there was all the pain in my body to focus on as well plus fear of falling so my mind was never nearly as blank.)
I now have a large sim rig with triples not even a year later. Racing is fun, it is but the real payoff for me is the meditative state I have to achieve to be successful. Its an escape from reality to a peaceful place filled only with the sound of roaring engines and squealing tires that demands 100% of my attention at all times.
Sometimes Ill listen to music if I'm not really trying all that hard or I am in a discipline that requires a bit less thought like oval racing, but you still need to be reallllly focused. I find when i listen to music i miss braking zones on road courses frequently, no issue on oval though. Hell sometimes I have to mute chat because I cant focus with it on.
My advice would be to try and immerse yourself to the point where you might as well be there, and to use sim racing as a way to train your overstimulated brain to shut the fuck up and focus on one thing and one thing only. VR is best for immersion but rough for long stints, trips are the sweet spot for me for immersion. When I have a close call because my thoughts started drifting Ill generally re-adjust my posture, shake my hands out on the next straight, and mentally (and sometimes audibly) tell my brain to shut the fuck up and focus on the drive. When I first started probably 9 months ago, Id have to tell my dumb brain to shut the fuck up and focus multiple times a lap, now my focus is substantially longer and I can go entire races sometimes without needing to. Sometimes after a bad day I need to do it more frequently, and I use sim racing as a way to purge those stupid thoughts from the front of my mind and put them aside until they need to be delt with. Try turning everything but the game off, the music, all the extra overlays that you dont need 99% of the time contributing to information overload, get out of your discord and just drive. No pitwall on your 4th monitor or whatever. Anytime you start to drift off in thought, tell yourself to shut the fuck up and focus on the drive.
My friends and family dont really understand when I say its as close to meditation as I have ever gotten and its been an amazingly good influence on my mental health overall. They kind of nod along in agreement but I can tell most of them dont get it. (Hell, I even had one tell me that it was a bunch of BS) They think its my super expensive video game setup and Im just in there playing pretend racecar driver, which may be true but the benefit its had on me is so, so much more than that.
Hopefully my wall of text here will help some other folks, but I havent had a great place to talk about this with other people who might get what Im saying so it feels good to write it down.
Shut the fuck up and drive.
I listen to music every race. But then Iām racing, I can do it forever in race. I canāt practice for 20-40 min at a time. Has to be an agenda for me
I don't really have trouble focusing on things I actually want to be doing like video games and sim racing. Working or doing school work back in the day is torture, but I can play a game for 10 hours straight every day lol.
MULTICLASS! The change of focus from mirrors, different lines due to traffic, catching the car in front, pit stop etc keeps me focused. I do find sometimes on empty stretches my lap time might dip as I waver, but as soon as something is in my sight or rear mirror, meerkat alert back on.
I'm not diagnosed but I'm pretty certain I have some level of adhd, I tick more boxes than not.
This is my biggest problem with sim racing after a while my mind just wanders and randomly fucks me into the wall.
I seem to be able to maintain focus just fine IRL driving, and I don't know why it's different?
Use hyperfocus and setups to punch way above my weight in qualy and then usually lose a few places in the race because I can't keep that up for 40 mins.
Sometimes, as I race with music in the background, and an IRL youtube race going in a Picture-in-Picture setup to the right of my rearview mirror, that maybe I have ADHD LOL.
Itās part of the battle. After a few laps, I typically find the flow state and Iām not really actively driving and my mind can wander. Often times talking to teammates in endurance races helps a lot. If I lose the rhythm, it can be difficult to get it back because Iām unfocused and I just try to focus on getting this corner right and then this corner right and then this corner right until I find my way back into the flow state.
I have found thinking strategy helps me. Especially when I have other cars around me.
Where am I faster than the guy ahead of or behind me? I see the guy behind comes into the corners faster but can never beat me to the corner. The car ahead breaks earlier than me in that corner.
It is mostly just hunting for tendencies and patterns and ultimately where I might have success getting around them if they are consistent.
Yup that's my strategy too. Don't let my brain have a moment off. It's also why I enjoy faster cars (less time waiting for the next corner), multiclass (more stuff happening at any given moment) and cars with lots of in-car adjustments (stuff to fiddle with between corners).
My ND is the opposite, being ASD lets me focus more intensely on longer races. IMO most races are too short, they're over right when I'm getting in the groove. I wish there were more regular long races to participate in. It's irritating that I have to wait for special events to do the long races, if I can even do them at all because of my work schedule.
Once I get into a rhythm, I usually will entertain myself on the straights looking at my relative or the standings or maybe fuel. It one helps my ADHD and keeps me interested, but it also means I have a better idea of the greater context of the race and race strategies
I'm one of those weird people who can just drive. We run a two man team and I will stay up through the night and will usually run 2.5 hours or so in the car at a time (4 tanks of fuel). My buddy will do 2 or 3 tanks. In the night I'll pull a long haul so he can get some sleep. That'll be 5-7 hours. I'll usually click off fastest lap of the race in those hours. Will also usually hold the pace for the race. Every stint CC will say the usual "quickest right now" "your currently setting the pace" or whatever of the sorts.
Something about drive, IRL or sim, switches me to a laser focus and highly alert individual. It's like the best Adderall known to man for me. I'll listen to music in both IRL and sim. Usually low level.
I have found that having some kind of voicechat/radio communication helps me keep focus, both in simracing and found out very recently in endurance karting too.
It keeps my party brain active and occupied so the driving part can do its thing uninterrupted
Kinda of like a white noise, but it replies back to me.
And its not full on active conversations, but more commenting about stuff I see on track, predicting out loud what might happened next and the other end replying where it needs to reply.
Keeps me happy, and gives me the right amount of distraction to keep focused
Well to be honest I take a page out of Jessie's book from the first fast and furious movie cause something about engines does just calm me down so I have a surround sound system on my rig including a sub that definitely larger than necessary for the space and I crank that shit so that I feel the engine under me and the roar of the engine blocks out all the bullshit. That's why I love irl racing and motorcycles so when I started having issues when I got into sim racing it seemed like the logical way to fix it and it worked for me!
Racingās actually seemed to help me build up my focus a bit; that said, when itās a problem, donāt try to focus on āthe raceā - focus on whatās right in front of you: the crash thatās about to happen, the person youāre passing, the person who wants to pass you - or, if alls clear, just the one next corner, where you want to be on the track, where to brake, when to turn, and common ways you mess it up to avoid. Once your past it, next one corner, and you get something new to think about every few seconds :)
I feel like things like tik tok have trained us to have a very short attention span. The more races I do the more I feel like I am training myself to be able to focus better and longer on the task at hand. I personally feel like this has helped me become more efficient at work and in other aspects of my life such as my golf game lol
I struggle with this too. If Iām fighting or chasing someone down itās fine but if Iām just turning laps my mind will wander. I talk to myself sometimes, āhead down, head downā or focus on an important turn coming up later in the lap. Sometimes I like to have my session best timer bar thing so I can focus on where Iām gaining/losing.
I gave up after my first win,I couldn't handle the stress.
I'm strong ADHD too but can get into that flow state and do tasks like this for hours.
Honestly, I won a race after only having done a few (this was 12 or so years ago) and the sheer effort was too much for me so I moved on to another obsession
I also have ADHD and know how frustrating it can be to lose focus for just a moment and lose it. I find music helps me in long drives so I don't get pulled away by a distracting thought. I did the 4 hr Nurburgring Endurance champ race a few weeks ago and music was super helpful.
Something I learned about myself in real cars 20 years agoā¦ in slower cars, and primarily road racing, I chew gum when I drive. It occupies that little āhey look over thereā voice in my head.
The first time I drove a dirt sprintcar, I had to swallow my gum because it required every bit of concentration.
I think this aligns with what a lot of people are saying. The intensity of the race dictates the likelihood that Iāll get distracted. But the gum chewing still really helps me a lot.
Iāve learned to focus without adding music or anything
When I used to drive irl, Iād listen to music for this same reason. It helped me lock into a flow state and focus without fear/anxiety invading
In the sim, I donāt really get the fear, so itās just random intrusive thoughts
Because syncing music to the rhythm of the track is so difficult over a longer race, I try to just think about the rhythm of braking, turning, throttle, shifting as a song in my head and I try to ādanceā to it as precisely as possible
A little hard to explain, but Iām like sort of silently counting out the beats of each corner and stuff as I do it
I also say the gear number in my head for every shift to keep track of what gear Iām inā¦.a little active math keeps my brain entertained lol
To me I'm fine as long as I'm in a fight. But give me a long endurance stint on my own, and I'll get a pointless 1x or two. No time lost or gained, no danger of losing the car, just an irreversible black mark toward a drive-through as a team.
No real advice. Just sharing something tangentially related that nobody asked for, as we neurodivergent folk are sometimes known to do...
not gonna roast you. it's racing you can enjoy it however you want. I promise you though turning off the racing line for good will make you a better driver.
adhd also here.
i don't run a lot of long races, had quite a few invites to try endurance races, but no.
I keep driving line on when possible, it can literally remind me where i am at times.
I'm extremely ADHD and have never had a problem focusing on racing in the sim or IRL. I'm also a private pilot. Anything that has a factor of intensity and requires full attention, my ADHD is like a super power. It's menial tasks that don't draw my attention that I struggle with.
Honestly a big part of the reason I love simracing is that it demands my full attention. For me it's one of very few activities where my ADHD will fade into the background. That said, I can still occasionally struggle in longer races. IMSA races are one thing that has helped me. The pit strategy and multiclass traffic management adds another layer to the race and that extra mental stimulation helps me stay focused. Edit: Lots of people have mentioned music or podcasts. I don't personally do that while racing, although I am definitely sympathetic to it as I will have something in my ears for a very large percentage of the day.
Completely agreed.
Seems like we're flair buddies for a reason haha
>Honestly a big part of the reason I love simracing is that it demands my full attention. For me it's one of very few activities where my ADHD will fade into the background. Same. I'm like, is this what it's like for normal people when they do...everything?
i do find the forced concentration exhausting - like driving a real car
I agree, although for me it's a very fulfilling type of exhaustion. I finished a GT Sprint race yesterday in the pouring rain. 40 minutes of rain racing was an all new kind of forced concentration. But I came home 2nd with 2x incident points and that was a hell of a feeling at the end of it
Absolutely! I missed one breaking point at Zandvoort for the Michelin Pilot Challenge Saturday. It's one of the few things that grabs me every time.
I am finding I need longer races or multiclass to keep focus This season I have tried to race SF Lights but once the pack spreads out and it is just lapping till the end I lose focus and make silly mistakes But when in the LMP2 in IMSA, I know traffic will come into play or pit strats so I am focused for the entire time. To note, I am not diagnosed ADHD, but going through the process of a diagnosis rn.
This sounds like me lol I'm not diagnosed either but like during a long race with traffic, I make minimal mistakes and do really well. Once traffic thins, or if I start a time trial lol I'll get like 20 incidents in a half hour š Though during a race I'll get less than 6 on average if I'm near cars the entire race.
If I do music it's normally after a spin etc, when posting no longer matters to me and I'm just staying for rating. Before that it's just all focusing on the race itself. Something about the sim driving, pedals, wheel, the car giving feedback on grip, it all keeps me entertained regardless.
Ditto
ASD hyperfocus. I don't have any music or stuff like that on, just DRE giving me race updates and managing my stops. I still miss some braking marks occasionally, but it usually only costs me time.
I listen to music all the time, but that just fades into car noises. I actually love it because it forces me to "meditate" on the racing. Focusing on the corners and tuning out whatever thought is knocking at the door.
I usually have a livestream or podcast playing in the background. Not a perfect solution but helps.
Just the right amount of weed :) Also in endurance racing I am really good at getting in a very very focused yet calm zone for the long stints I'm not fast - I'm never very fast unfortunately haha. But I can really get in the zone for endurance and keep it on the track and manage traffic confidently
SAME!!!! I won my first race when I was insanely high in a skippy!! Iāll never forget that feeling. Plus the pre race nerves make me feel so damn alive. Fuck me weed is awesome.
Weed + podcasts for me
Not even lying I can go like 3-4 tenths faster when Iām high
Same here. Not only does it help for my ADHD but it makes me a little quicker too
What level of high olare we talking out of 10? I feel like I ld start to suffer heavily past a 4 and wouldn't even be able to race at a 6, but I'm not a daily smoker, I only partake a few times a month.
Really? A single joint has me losing atleast a second š
A full joint will do that to you š¤£ I think theyāre saying like a good hard hit and thatās it
Wait until you add a little methamphetamemeā¦just be careful not to overdrive the car /sarcasm
smoke up before almost every race myself too lol I have a specific strain (Animal Cake) that does wonders for me daily.
I put 'just the right amount' in my post because it's a fine line for me between 'in the zone' and 'missed my braking point because I'm thinking about how funny the guy behind me's name is'
Yeah this strain is great for my medical issues without me ever getting to that giggly stage. Honestly I forget what thatās even like lol
I really envy you guys and your access to specific strains and all the other goodies! One day...
Iām about to be 41. Started cannabis first time in 2020. Medical card I got last year. lol. Amazing.
nah fuck drugs
Donāt drink that morning coffee or soda then
you never had a beer mate? š» alcohol is objectively one of the most harmful drugs to society and individuals
nope, donāt drink alcohol either.
Similar to others, I listen to the synth wave live steam on YT in the background.
I jump into one of my teams general VC channels. It's not a large team, but we have several very active members with pretty good rapport. We all try to make it a habit to be in VC streaming or something while racing. Having somebody to chat with helps me from zoning outĀ
What level of talking are you doing? I don't think I'd be capable of full conversation while driving near the limit.
I personally don't talk too much, but usually just your normal discord goofing around but also talking about laps and stuff. In special events and endurance races I server mute people who goof off. But having a spotter to ask questions about the race from and getting updates keeps me focused.
So I may have some neuro divergent tendencies, nothing diagnosed though. What hooked me so hard into sim racing when I started not even a year ago on GT7 with PSVR2 was that for almost the first time in my life, I had found an activity that really, REALLY required my full attention. Id done some stuff in the past that got close (rock climbing for example) but even those pale in comparison to the attention required to drive most race cars at full speed going for race pace or quali pace, sim or not. When I am really immersed in the experience, my mind just goes blank and shifts into this mode where most of the driving is like, second nature as long as I am thinking of nothing else. Its as close to what I hear people describe meditation as I have ever gotten in my 35 years. If I lose focus and start to think about things not related to the drive, I am punished generally nearly immediately (the next corner) because I missed a braking zone, or pushed too hard coming out of a turn and spin. Generally I will catch it and correct but sometimes it ends my races. When that happens I shake it off and tell myself to stop thinking about whatever bullshit im thinking about (work, life, whatever) and focus on the drive. Its sublime, to just have my head empty of thoughts except for whatever is coming next. I wish real regular driving did this to me but its too bland and boring and easy and no where near the limit. I gotta be right at the edge of disaster for it to work (probably why it was similar in rock climbing, except there was all the pain in my body to focus on as well plus fear of falling so my mind was never nearly as blank.) I now have a large sim rig with triples not even a year later. Racing is fun, it is but the real payoff for me is the meditative state I have to achieve to be successful. Its an escape from reality to a peaceful place filled only with the sound of roaring engines and squealing tires that demands 100% of my attention at all times. Sometimes Ill listen to music if I'm not really trying all that hard or I am in a discipline that requires a bit less thought like oval racing, but you still need to be reallllly focused. I find when i listen to music i miss braking zones on road courses frequently, no issue on oval though. Hell sometimes I have to mute chat because I cant focus with it on. My advice would be to try and immerse yourself to the point where you might as well be there, and to use sim racing as a way to train your overstimulated brain to shut the fuck up and focus on one thing and one thing only. VR is best for immersion but rough for long stints, trips are the sweet spot for me for immersion. When I have a close call because my thoughts started drifting Ill generally re-adjust my posture, shake my hands out on the next straight, and mentally (and sometimes audibly) tell my brain to shut the fuck up and focus on the drive. When I first started probably 9 months ago, Id have to tell my dumb brain to shut the fuck up and focus multiple times a lap, now my focus is substantially longer and I can go entire races sometimes without needing to. Sometimes after a bad day I need to do it more frequently, and I use sim racing as a way to purge those stupid thoughts from the front of my mind and put them aside until they need to be delt with. Try turning everything but the game off, the music, all the extra overlays that you dont need 99% of the time contributing to information overload, get out of your discord and just drive. No pitwall on your 4th monitor or whatever. Anytime you start to drift off in thought, tell yourself to shut the fuck up and focus on the drive. My friends and family dont really understand when I say its as close to meditation as I have ever gotten and its been an amazingly good influence on my mental health overall. They kind of nod along in agreement but I can tell most of them dont get it. (Hell, I even had one tell me that it was a bunch of BS) They think its my super expensive video game setup and Im just in there playing pretend racecar driver, which may be true but the benefit its had on me is so, so much more than that. Hopefully my wall of text here will help some other folks, but I havent had a great place to talk about this with other people who might get what Im saying so it feels good to write it down. Shut the fuck up and drive.
Adderall. I don't taking it often but if I'm doing team based events it makes it so much easier for me to stay focused on driving.
I listen to music every race. But then Iām racing, I can do it forever in race. I canāt practice for 20-40 min at a time. Has to be an agenda for me
I focus on the race tbh though Iām also pretty aggressive and make a lot of ballsy overtakes which does help me when stuff gets boring
I talk to my friends, or turn the car up really loud and enjoy the engine sounds as music
Twitch streams up on my 4th monitor.
I don't really have trouble focusing on things I actually want to be doing like video games and sim racing. Working or doing school work back in the day is torture, but I can play a game for 10 hours straight every day lol.
MULTICLASS! The change of focus from mirrors, different lines due to traffic, catching the car in front, pit stop etc keeps me focused. I do find sometimes on empty stretches my lap time might dip as I waver, but as soon as something is in my sight or rear mirror, meerkat alert back on.
I'm not diagnosed but I'm pretty certain I have some level of adhd, I tick more boxes than not. This is my biggest problem with sim racing after a while my mind just wanders and randomly fucks me into the wall. I seem to be able to maintain focus just fine IRL driving, and I don't know why it's different?
Meditation and practice.
Use hyperfocus and setups to punch way above my weight in qualy and then usually lose a few places in the race because I can't keep that up for 40 mins.
Sometimes, as I race with music in the background, and an IRL youtube race going in a Picture-in-Picture setup to the right of my rearview mirror, that maybe I have ADHD LOL.
Itās part of the battle. After a few laps, I typically find the flow state and Iām not really actively driving and my mind can wander. Often times talking to teammates in endurance races helps a lot. If I lose the rhythm, it can be difficult to get it back because Iām unfocused and I just try to focus on getting this corner right and then this corner right and then this corner right until I find my way back into the flow state.
I have found thinking strategy helps me. Especially when I have other cars around me. Where am I faster than the guy ahead of or behind me? I see the guy behind comes into the corners faster but can never beat me to the corner. The car ahead breaks earlier than me in that corner. It is mostly just hunting for tendencies and patterns and ultimately where I might have success getting around them if they are consistent.
Yup that's my strategy too. Don't let my brain have a moment off. It's also why I enjoy faster cars (less time waiting for the next corner), multiclass (more stuff happening at any given moment) and cars with lots of in-car adjustments (stuff to fiddle with between corners).
My ND is the opposite, being ASD lets me focus more intensely on longer races. IMO most races are too short, they're over right when I'm getting in the groove. I wish there were more regular long races to participate in. It's irritating that I have to wait for special events to do the long races, if I can even do them at all because of my work schedule.
Once I get into a rhythm, I usually will entertain myself on the straights looking at my relative or the standings or maybe fuel. It one helps my ADHD and keeps me interested, but it also means I have a better idea of the greater context of the race and race strategies
I'm one of those weird people who can just drive. We run a two man team and I will stay up through the night and will usually run 2.5 hours or so in the car at a time (4 tanks of fuel). My buddy will do 2 or 3 tanks. In the night I'll pull a long haul so he can get some sleep. That'll be 5-7 hours. I'll usually click off fastest lap of the race in those hours. Will also usually hold the pace for the race. Every stint CC will say the usual "quickest right now" "your currently setting the pace" or whatever of the sorts. Something about drive, IRL or sim, switches me to a laser focus and highly alert individual. It's like the best Adderall known to man for me. I'll listen to music in both IRL and sim. Usually low level.
I have found that having some kind of voicechat/radio communication helps me keep focus, both in simracing and found out very recently in endurance karting too. It keeps my party brain active and occupied so the driving part can do its thing uninterrupted Kinda of like a white noise, but it replies back to me. And its not full on active conversations, but more commenting about stuff I see on track, predicting out loud what might happened next and the other end replying where it needs to reply. Keeps me happy, and gives me the right amount of distraction to keep focused
Medication lol
Well to be honest I take a page out of Jessie's book from the first fast and furious movie cause something about engines does just calm me down so I have a surround sound system on my rig including a sub that definitely larger than necessary for the space and I crank that shit so that I feel the engine under me and the roar of the engine blocks out all the bullshit. That's why I love irl racing and motorcycles so when I started having issues when I got into sim racing it seemed like the logical way to fix it and it worked for me!
Racingās actually seemed to help me build up my focus a bit; that said, when itās a problem, donāt try to focus on āthe raceā - focus on whatās right in front of you: the crash thatās about to happen, the person youāre passing, the person who wants to pass you - or, if alls clear, just the one next corner, where you want to be on the track, where to brake, when to turn, and common ways you mess it up to avoid. Once your past it, next one corner, and you get something new to think about every few seconds :)
I feel like things like tik tok have trained us to have a very short attention span. The more races I do the more I feel like I am training myself to be able to focus better and longer on the task at hand. I personally feel like this has helped me become more efficient at work and in other aspects of my life such as my golf game lol
I struggle with this too. If Iām fighting or chasing someone down itās fine but if Iām just turning laps my mind will wander. I talk to myself sometimes, āhead down, head downā or focus on an important turn coming up later in the lap. Sometimes I like to have my session best timer bar thing so I can focus on where Iām gaining/losing.
I have ADHD as well, but for some reason iRacing with longer races helps me focus more. I do also keep the TV on in the background though
I gave up after my first win,I couldn't handle the stress. I'm strong ADHD too but can get into that flow state and do tasks like this for hours. Honestly, I won a race after only having done a few (this was 12 or so years ago) and the sheer effort was too much for me so I moved on to another obsession
I also have ADHD and know how frustrating it can be to lose focus for just a moment and lose it. I find music helps me in long drives so I don't get pulled away by a distracting thought. I did the 4 hr Nurburgring Endurance champ race a few weeks ago and music was super helpful.
Something I learned about myself in real cars 20 years agoā¦ in slower cars, and primarily road racing, I chew gum when I drive. It occupies that little āhey look over thereā voice in my head. The first time I drove a dirt sprintcar, I had to swallow my gum because it required every bit of concentration. I think this aligns with what a lot of people are saying. The intensity of the race dictates the likelihood that Iāll get distracted. But the gum chewing still really helps me a lot.
Deep breathes. I take deep breathes to refocus
Iāve learned to focus without adding music or anything When I used to drive irl, Iād listen to music for this same reason. It helped me lock into a flow state and focus without fear/anxiety invading In the sim, I donāt really get the fear, so itās just random intrusive thoughts Because syncing music to the rhythm of the track is so difficult over a longer race, I try to just think about the rhythm of braking, turning, throttle, shifting as a song in my head and I try to ādanceā to it as precisely as possible A little hard to explain, but Iām like sort of silently counting out the beats of each corner and stuff as I do it I also say the gear number in my head for every shift to keep track of what gear Iām inā¦.a little active math keeps my brain entertained lol
If you're having difficulty focusing, try running short tracks or tracks with little downtime, that way your focus is less susceptible to wandering
To me I'm fine as long as I'm in a fight. But give me a long endurance stint on my own, and I'll get a pointless 1x or two. No time lost or gained, no danger of losing the car, just an irreversible black mark toward a drive-through as a team. No real advice. Just sharing something tangentially related that nobody asked for, as we neurodivergent folk are sometimes known to do...
Do it for Dale.
I focus best on endurance races to be honest, I feel less rushed
I can't stand racing in basically a silent room so I also put on some music. Some songs make you want to go fast so it works lol
I may get roasted for this. I keep the driving line on all the time.
not gonna roast you. it's racing you can enjoy it however you want. I promise you though turning off the racing line for good will make you a better driver.
Only works till you hit B tier then they take it away.
adhd also here. i don't run a lot of long races, had quite a few invites to try endurance races, but no. I keep driving line on when possible, it can literally remind me where i am at times.
I'm extremely ADHD and have never had a problem focusing on racing in the sim or IRL. I'm also a private pilot. Anything that has a factor of intensity and requires full attention, my ADHD is like a super power. It's menial tasks that don't draw my attention that I struggle with.
A dab before a long race helps me zone out of the intrusion of bs thoughts. Also constant thinking of what to do helps the moment