Ocular Driving
05-15-2005, 11:42 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: London
Posts: 1,305
Ocular Driving
Ocular Driving
Ocular driving is a fancy name for where you are looking when you drive.* Most people are taught to look where they are going when they learn to drive.* This is wrong for racing,* and not really even the best idea* when you're on the road - although its close.* Whenever you are driving at speed you should be looking where you WANT to go,* not where you are going.
You should not fixate on one point on the road (you are driving to a specific point for more than a brief moment in time,* and this can lead to road hypnosis),* instead you should be looking well ahead of where you are and constantly shifting you vision to you are watching where you want to be in the near future.* This means that if you go round a bend in the road and you want to remain as far over to the left as you can,* you should keep looking to the left of your lane.* Likewise,* if you want to exit on the right,* you should keep looking at the right hand side of the lane.* This applies all the time,* whether you're changing lanes,* cornering or simply following curves in the road.* In addition to this,* whenever you come up to a corner you should usually have your heard turned and be looking through either the side of the windscreen or the passenger/driver side window before (or at least just as you start) you turning the wheel.* If you're eyes are looking ahead of you as you enter the corner and start to steer,* then you are lookign where you are going not where you want to go.
You generally know when you're getting this right as after a few days you start to find the A and B pillars of your cars windscreen are constantly in your way.
Although you are primarily focusing on where you want to go you should not totally ignore where you are.* You need to keep your immediate surroundings in your peripheral vision so you can react to changes or hazards that occur in your immediate vicinity.* In particular this includes being aware of cars that are passing you or driving along side,* as well as the usual hazards and surface changes you encounter every day.
This should noticebly decrease your laps times on circuits,* or through slalom courses.* This also makes you a much safer driver as you have more time to react to things that are coming,* and a much much smoother driver.* This extra smoothness is a combination of the extra time allowed to cope with whats coming up,* and the magic of hand-eye co-ordination which means the car will automatically go where you are looking.* As a result,* this is also a must on hill climbs/rallies etc. where you are racing at speed on loose surfaces.* Remember,* smoothness is the key to speed.
Ocular driving is a fancy name for where you are looking when you drive.* Most people are taught to look where they are going when they learn to drive.* This is wrong for racing,* and not really even the best idea* when you're on the road - although its close.* Whenever you are driving at speed you should be looking where you WANT to go,* not where you are going.
You should not fixate on one point on the road (you are driving to a specific point for more than a brief moment in time,* and this can lead to road hypnosis),* instead you should be looking well ahead of where you are and constantly shifting you vision to you are watching where you want to be in the near future.* This means that if you go round a bend in the road and you want to remain as far over to the left as you can,* you should keep looking to the left of your lane.* Likewise,* if you want to exit on the right,* you should keep looking at the right hand side of the lane.* This applies all the time,* whether you're changing lanes,* cornering or simply following curves in the road.* In addition to this,* whenever you come up to a corner you should usually have your heard turned and be looking through either the side of the windscreen or the passenger/driver side window before (or at least just as you start) you turning the wheel.* If you're eyes are looking ahead of you as you enter the corner and start to steer,* then you are lookign where you are going not where you want to go.
You generally know when you're getting this right as after a few days you start to find the A and B pillars of your cars windscreen are constantly in your way.
Although you are primarily focusing on where you want to go you should not totally ignore where you are.* You need to keep your immediate surroundings in your peripheral vision so you can react to changes or hazards that occur in your immediate vicinity.* In particular this includes being aware of cars that are passing you or driving along side,* as well as the usual hazards and surface changes you encounter every day.
This should noticebly decrease your laps times on circuits,* or through slalom courses.* This also makes you a much safer driver as you have more time to react to things that are coming,* and a much much smoother driver.* This extra smoothness is a combination of the extra time allowed to cope with whats coming up,* and the magic of hand-eye co-ordination which means the car will automatically go where you are looking.* As a result,* this is also a must on hill climbs/rallies etc. where you are racing at speed on loose surfaces.* Remember,* smoothness is the key to speed.
Last edited by DRT acura; 05-15-2005 at 11:51 AM.
