{"id":107309,"date":"2024-12-25T03:02:55","date_gmt":"2024-12-25T11:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/?p=107309"},"modified":"2024-12-05T14:39:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T22:39:32","slug":"q-how-can-i-learn-to-deal-with-a-driver-who-mentally-and-physically-attacks-me-when-racing-wheel-to-wheel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/q-how-can-i-learn-to-deal-with-a-driver-who-mentally-and-physically-attacks-me-when-racing-wheel-to-wheel\/","title":{"rendered":"Q: How can I learn to deal with a driver who mentally and physically attacks me when racing wheel-to-wheel?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Q<\/b>: \u201c<\/i>I am using sims to improve my racecraft. In my league, I frequently find myself against a driver who I don\u2019t think will hit me, but he definitely does a lot of weaving in my mirrors, lots of unpredictable moves, and attacks when I least expect it. <\/i>He’s not necessarily faster than me, but I can tell he has better racecraft. I am good at attacking and passing him, but I am not good at defending. So, in real life or a sim, how do you deal with that crazy Verstappen-esque character who is difficult to block and loves to live rent free in your head?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A<\/b>: So, you\u2019re okay when he\u2019s in front of you, but just not when he\u2019s behind and harassing you? Is that correct?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You\u2019ve heard me say this before, but I\u2019ll say it again: You do what you do because you\u2019re mentally programmed to do so; you sometimes don\u2019t do what you want because you either don\u2019t have the right mental programming yet, or you access the wrong mental program. Where do these programs come from? From physical or mental repetition. If you\u2019re okay following and passing, you have the programming to do that. If you have difficulty with this guy following and attacking you, you either don\u2019t have the programming to manage it, or you\u2019re accessing the wrong program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With that in mind, use your \u201cI\u2019m attacking\u201d program when you\u2019re being attacked. In doing so you\u2019ll build a stronger program for being in front and being attacked. When he\u2019s attacking you, pretend that you\u2019re behind him and attacking him. You have a program to do that \u2014 you know you\u2019re good at that, so use that mental program. When you\u2019re in front, think (and say to yourself), \u201cAttack,\u201d and then drive like you\u2019re attacking him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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How do you do that? First, when sim racing with this guy, take on a mindset of using this as a great learning experience, and that it\u2019s a process of developing a strong program that is okay with being attacked. Then, do mental imagery of being calm, relaxed, and in control when being attacked. Spend 20 minutes each evening before bed (because what you do then sinks in during sleep) imagining and replaying various racing scenarios where you\u2019re being attacked, and you manage it the way you\u2019d like. Imagine you being the perfect driver in these scenarios \u2014 how would you respond to every attack he makes? Turn this into an advantage \u2014 your strength. You are \u201cThe Defender\u201d by \u201cAttacking.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Between having a mindset around this being a learning opportunity, using mental imagery (every night for a month or two) to build the mental program of you being \u201cThe Defender,\u201d and then accepting that you\u2019re learning when you\u2019re sim racing against this other driver, you will become the stronger driver.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I\u2019d also suggest thinking of this other driver as someone who is actually helping you be an even better driver, rather than a crazy man. He\u2019s helping you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One last thing: It\u2019s easy to think that simply practicing this in sim racing is better than imagining \u201cThe Defender\u201d in mental imagery, but it\u2019s not. Only in your mind can you do what you want perfectly. So, practice it perfectly in your mind, over and over and over and over\u2026 again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Have fun with this!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Q: \u201cI am using sims to improve my racecraft. In my league, I frequently find myself against a driver who I don\u2019t think will hit me, but he definitely does a lot of weaving in my mirrors, lots of unpredictable moves, and attacks when I least expect it. He’s not necessarily faster than me, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57,17],"tags":[194,193,134],"class_list":["post-107309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-ross","category-driving-tips","tag-passing","tag-racecraft","tag-sim-racing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107837,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107309\/revisions\/107837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}