Vision Technique

Vision technique in motorsports is the ability to predict the lines and behaviors of the car on the next half second at all times. At first, just the idea of looking forward and being always active with your eyes and scanning the track might be overwhelming because we don't know exactly what to look for. But this is normal and this technique is actually the most difficult at the very beginning because you will not know exactly where to look at yet.

This is actually why track day events have cones on entry, apex and exit to help you look at these spots and have an easier time going around the track. But it gets easier and easier with time because your vision technique will be improved naturally when you learn in detail how to read the track, the radius of the corner, c amber, off camber, elevation changes and we will talk about these in their own specific lessons.

Critical Vision Principles to Remember

For now, here's what you should never forget about vision because these things can prevent you from advancing in your driving technique.

Before Braking

Before braking, especially on a straight line before a corner, you have plenty of time to prepare the corner so make sure you don't take a nap before that and get the car to the outside so you can maximize your line.

After Starting to Brake

Immediately after you start braking, automatically move your eyes to the inside of the corner or apex. This will help you start building an imaginary arc in your mind that the car will trace.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Eye Lock During Braking

But here's a problem, the most common mistake in beginners is to lock the eyes right in front of the car after we start braking. This happens because any sort of fear or hyper focus on the braking itself consumes our attention and we end up forgetting to even realize that we have eyes. It's like we zone out and look at nothing for a fraction of a second.

At the time we remember we have eyes and then we look forward again, it's possible we are ready to lay and because it's too late, what happens? You look at the apex, you want to get to the apex and you end up turning into the corner too fast and too late. If you can relate to that, don't worry, this is extremely normal, it's just part of the technique building.

Zoning Out on Corner Exits

On corner exits, as soon as we exit a corner, we tend to have that mental sigh of relief and we end up zoning out again. Be careful, because you're still driving and there is another corner coming up. If there's a long straight between the corners, you're fine, but many corners are close to the previous one and you need to stay active with your eyes to prepare the line of the next corner.

It's a very common mistake for beginners to exit a corner, take a nap and not have enough time to open up for the next corner. And this can cause a big snowball effect because now you're offline, you have to turn in, you find yourself offline and you panic, you zone out again and now you're just driving reactively.

Proactive vs. Reactive Driving

Driving proactively means always being ready for the next step, no matter what happens. If you're on the straight, look at the braking reference, immediately after you touch the brakes, look forward to the apex. As you approach the apex, try to look already to the exit so you can plan your throttle application and as you're finishing the exit, immediately look forward to plan the next one, always forward forward forward.

Again, this looks simple, but these zoney out events happen all the time and even if they happen for a fraction of a second, that can be enough to disrupt your flow and your technique falls apart just as quickly.

Development and Progression

Also, again, at first this seems difficult, but the more car knowledge and track knowledge together, the more support you will have on your own vision technique and these zoney out events will disappear. Because when you don't know exactly what to look for, you have way too many options and it's easy to get confused, I get that.

So the more you understand about what matters and what affects your lines in the grip of the car, the more you can reduce the amount of things you have to look for. So you tend to focus more on the important things and actually spend way less energy with your vision than when you were a beginner.

But first, literally just looking forward will take a lot of your mental bandwidth. But as you get used to it, it will happen even when you don't think about it at all.