Davide Nativo
Premium
How simracing can improve the quality of your life.
It is plain to see that modern society nowadays values time over pretty much anything else. In a world where everything goes faster and faster, and in 10 years we see occur radical transformations that in the recent past could take up even a century to happen, it is no secret that time itself has become a valuable currency.
Whereas before, humans used to live by nature, following its course dictated by seasons, and daily routines were conditioned by the sunrise and the sunset, today it is not like so anymore. We schedule everything according to very strict windows of time, on a 24/7 basis. Whenever we get even half a day off from all of our appointments, business and chores, we feel liberated.
A collateral effect to all this, is the importance given to simplicity rather than complexity in our society. To fit in such a frantic way of living, we end up in need of simpler things, often unconsciously associated with being ‘more natural’ per se (isn’t it true that Nature is capable of incredibly complex marvels though?), rather than pursuing sophistication. It is a normal psychological response, by counter-effecting an evil we feel is threatening us with something we see at its opposite.
The problem with giving more space to simplicity over complexity however is that we might end up over-simplifying things. We tend not to read anymore, and if we read, we want light readings. Something very short, on point, explained in a very simplistic manner, even if it is about incredibly complex sciences. We prefer pictures to text, and even movies and videogames now tend to abandon more articulated productions in favour of more generalist creations, easily sellable to wider audiences but lacking proper character as such.
I am not pointing my finger, because if I would, I’d find myself too at the other side of it. I am like everyone else. Current society affects me the same way it does with all of us. It is what a friend of mine called “a watered down living”.
Now, there are many ways to fight this. From taking the habit to read every day, to set yourself long term goals and working every day to achieve them, the possibilities are endless and only you know what might fit in your situation better. What I found out, to my great surprise, is that in any case simracing can help you a great deal handle this problem.
I noticed not so long ago that my attention threshold was getting significantly shorter. It started with the incapability of sticking to a specific schedule, and ended up with me being easily bored out of things, to even losing focus while listening and taking part in a conversation. Nothing dramatic obviously, but it bothered me very much.
While looking at different solutions to restore the ideal span of my attention threshold, I curiously found out something that amazed me. In that same period, I started in fact playing Dirt Rally in my free time. What happened is that, because I am a hard-core difficulty junkie and so I set every hint on screen as disabled, I had to listen carefully at what my co-driver was saying while reading the pace notes set.
At the beginning, with shorter stages and slower cars, it was not that hard at all. However, the faster the cars got, and the longer the stages became, the more I had to keep my focus up to avoid crashing everywhere. I thought nothing of it, until I found out, while going out with friends or taking part in some meetings, that I was being much more consistent in my listening. I was much more mindful, and I was able to take part in a more participative way to conversations. Nothing really changed at that time in my life apart from starting playing Dirt Rally and leaning more towards the rally class in the simracing genre, so I immediately linked the two ends together. I was ‘shocked’ at first, but then it felt natural given that I was in fact getting used to listen more attentively, thanks to my co-driver.
Driving and listening carefully at the same time, also had the bonus of slightly improving my multi-tasking. Even though, truth be told, barely, as I am pretty much a good old “single-core” processor, as a friend of mine funnily nicknamed me a while ago.
In any case, I think that what has happened to me proves mainly two things: first, in a philosophical, and poetical maybe, way, that solutions to your problems often come from where you least expect them to; second, that simracing is much more than just sitting behind a monitor holding a plastic wheel in your hands (or a gamepad, in my case!). It is not a mere escape from real world into a virtual reality accommodating your wannabe professional driver aspirations.
It can be a gym to your mind. It can train you, provided you give it the right motivation. It can teach you not only to become a more proficient driver, and that is plain to see for everyone, but also a more focused, determinate person. Simracing can be a tool, you just have to see it and put it to the right use.
Shouldn’t it work, this could be all one more good excuse to your sweet half to get her/him let you be while sitting in your sim-rig!
Original Pictures provided by Content Creator, user @ECGadget
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Has simracing helped you too in any way in the past? Share your experience down in the comments below!
