Right..
Ok, so I don't know what the underlying root is...
Most of the time I am asking myself: "why I am so nervous when racing LFS?". The LXCC has brought a new dimension of nerves, which I fondly credit to Axus's crazy "flying lap" qualification system. My lap - ok: pounding heart, sweaty palms aside, here we go. It's invariably difficult to actually drive a decent (read: remotely competitive) time whilst battling 45 thoughts per second syndrome... Then a small mistake happens and even MORE adrenaline / cortizol and other focus obliterating agents are at once injected into my already saturated bloodstream.
So my question is: does anyone else suffer in this regard? Any Aliens(tm) actually get nervous before/during racing? Perhaps more experience quenches the anxiety of racing, but more than that I suspect I just take it too seriously. But I WANT to take it seriously! That really enhances the suspension of disbeleif, and draws me into the sim. Ironically, I'm not even sure if being a nervous driver is "fun" or not : It would be great to just be able to sit down, be totally relaxed, and run some laps. Doubtlessly, my times would even improve then!
Any thoughts?

yup - i get this EVERY STCC race, once im in the race an dracing, its ok, but at the start (esp in the quali in the heats) my heart is like a drum

I used to be a bit nervous, but only of hitting other people. Overtaking used to get me so excited too.

After 3 and a bit years I just drive, don't give a thought to all of that (I mean, I still try to not hit people, but emotionally it all leaves me quite devoid). It's just, there's a gap, I've taken it, I'm through, carry on. I think it was just the newness and not really being in control of the car (in part due to crap setups at the time... I was but a newbie ). Close racing, when it happens, is still great fun, I really miss it. Had a fair bit in S1 days, due to a relatively low number of combos and more time to drive.

nah, i used to at the start of league races n stuff, but its gone away now.

at the start of kart races when i first started i used to be so nervous my legs wobbled and i couldnt walk or talk properly, i used to shake lol, so lfs isnt quite so nerve racking in comparison.

u can tell when people are nervous iN LFS races tho, because they drive slower lap times and make funny movements at the starts..

League races do get me nervous - I think more so when i'm less competetive. When i'm in the midfield/back i'm a bag of jelly - in league races where I am nearer the front I get more tempermental than nervous though, if there's a championship at stake it can be hard to remember it's just a game. Whatever nerves I feel are usually over by the 2nd / 3rd lap - but sometimes when the battle is tight or if I need to pull more out of myself the adrenaline just keeps flowing and flowing.

I sometimes get nervous on those "official" races, like in some league or something..
For example in "Nations Cup" i did some mistakes which i wouldn't do if it was some public racing...
On January 21'st, it will be 4th race of our OPS-otvoreno prvenstvo srbije(Serbian Open championship) and as some of you know, it will be broadcasted on TV, on our local "Auto Plus" channel... so i imagine that that fact would make my nervous a bit..
My friends will be watching it on TV probably.. there are photos of each driver displayed before the race, so it will probably be a bit palm sweating..

Same here! In the STCC heats I'm always nervous in fear that Jakg will take me out!

No serious, I like it when I'm getting nervous. Shows that I enjoy the game.
Look at it that way: Your body is trying to put you in a condition of best awareness. Alright, it might be a bad idea to put your arms into condition to beat someone down when you're trying to balance a FZ5 - but all in all it's an enjoyable ride.

Vain

I get this when i'm doing it IRL. Approaching any corner on the flying lap is just so intense and exciting. The heart is beating so fast and strong as you are considering where to brake and turn-in. You can feel the speed constantly building up and the shaking (in a kart) makes it feel like you are going at least twice faster than you really are and when you finally make it throught the corner another one is coming up...
Doing all that in LFS takes some time to get involved and if you DO get involved into this evil ( ) simulator you get some adrenaline and other stuff too. The effect is a lot lesser than IRL tho, but still fun. That's how i feel about it

I usually get nervous when people are close to me (as in a pack), because I usually get bad lag, and I don't want to hit anyone (which usually leads me to trying to stay in the back of the pack, or even farther).

Well there's nothing wrong with you that's for sure

It's totally normal to have these symptomps. The degree of them of course may vary from people to people but as a general idea simply it is impossible to do anything that jepertizes your health (as in real life) or proving your skills (like in LFS) and don't get anxious about it.

LFS is a tough task especially when you have tough opponents or even better if you and your opponents are almost equal on track.

This rises the stress cause you know that the winner will be judged by the details. And the more you are thinking about it the more it gets you

So if you cant't control these emotions to a degree probably your performance will suffer.

Damn LFS!!! It really puts your life in a different prespective

I definatly get this. It's really bad at a start of a league season when you don't know the drivers very well and don't know what they will do. I still get sweaty palms a bit at the start of the STCC races. I was so bad last race I forgot to put a setup on teh car and I had to qualify with the default setup! =)

I get really nervous when facing the Aliens ®, or when I know that I'm not very good at that certain combo. I keep on thinking that I'm a disappointment to my teammates, especially the Alien-teammates ®.

I get quite nervous on the beginning of serious races, but strangely it affects me quite well, there are some races where I don't screw up even once...
Helps me concentrate I guess...

Heh, nice to see I am not alone in this regard

It seems I even get nervous about being nervous! 3/4 of the way through the last race, I was running decent times and the nerves had settled down. Then I noticed that I wasn't that nervous and started to get nervous again :doh: LOL. I always manage to set a PB during "serious" races though, so it must have SOME positive effect, even if it feels awkward.

When i joined T7R i had never done single lap quallies in my life. As i was still a little new and there were all these fast drivers my heart was double bouncing my lungs it was beating so hard at the first league event i took part in when they all watched me do my lap.

Now im alright in leagues in single laps, not so when driving for another team and the qually is tight because you dont want to stuff up as its not your race really. Then my heart gets it's skipping rope out and starts doing its thing.

In racing, hell yeah! Makes the racing more fun. When you feel like that, winning or loosing doesnt matter anymore. You have just driven your damnest to finish where you are and couldn't of tried harder! Those are the races where you cross the finish line, sit back and are like WOW...save replay

I get nervous and dosen't drive well when I have kamikaze drivers behind me.

Of the type that dives into a corner trying to overtake even though they dosen't have the proper overlap.
The kind that does this every god damn turn.

Quote from Vain :

Same here! In the STCC heats I'm always nervous in fear that Jakg will take me out!

"hehehe"

When did i ever take you out?

I just picture everyone naked on the grid and have at it (the racing) I am quite focused on the start though, and my look left/right buttons are being molested like ants.

The only time I get nervous is actually when the race is about to finish. Heart rate is usually a bit higher if I am trying to hold off the lead, but typically if I have a good lead, I get in the zone and typically put in some of my best laps at the end of the race. That kind of determination at the end overcomes the thumping heart of mine, and I completely forget about it

Trying to take it easy the last few laps with a big lead usually ends in disaster. lol

I think my heart rate is close to full blast if I'm inside and like one row back. I think my fear comes from not wanting to be "that guy" who takes out the whole field in turn one.....so I tend to loose a fair bit of ground in the first two turns until things spread out a bit.

The stock voice in pitspotter is not very soothing, this may help get the heart rate up......I need the voice of Cate Blanchett wispering "on your left" that would calm me down...lol

Yes I get it, got it in GPL as well, 90% of this feeling came from not wanting to make ass of myself by ramming the driver in front of me.

Talking about the true great drivers of LFS( aliens) you have nothing to worry about they will give you room in a race then pass you without you knowing

I used to get very nervous in league races when I first started, and the one lap qually of the Vixen Challenge season 1 was REALLY nerve racking... Sweaty palms, silly mistakes etc. And that just put MORE pressure on for the following race, which led to more silly mistakes... and so on.

Now I'm much calmer. I do sometimes get a little nervous if someone is catching me towards the end of a race and I know it'll be tight as to whether I can keep ahead, but most of the time I just drive now. I'm confident in my ability to race well and keep a position, so it's relatively easy. I don't claim however to be ice cool yet.

Pick and Play races are fine. I just go out there without a single worry and drive. League races add the extra dimension of actually mattering, which is what makes them so much fun!

League races - nervous before it starts but when the lights go green it all goes away (until I'm on my own). The same happens IRL, apart from the nerves stay away all race, even if I'm lapping on my own.

Public races - a bit nervous once it gets to the second to last lap and I'm first, or if I'm a couple of rows back on the inside, I really dont want to take people out at T1

Quote from Hurts2bStock :

I think my heart rate is close to full blast if I'm inside and like one row back. I think my fear comes from not wanting to be "that guy" who takes out the whole field in turn one.....so I tend to loose a fair bit of ground in the first two turns until things spread out a bit.

The stock voice in pitspotter is not very soothing, this may help get the heart rate up......I need the voice of Cate Blanchett wispering "on your left" that would calm me down...lol

Thats my problem as well.... When ever anyone comes near me to overtake (quite often since im terribly slow) I start having an attack of nerves/panicing, "oh crap oh crap, need to be good and not cause a crash" basicly.
Some of the posts here don't really sound like nerves to me more adrenaline then anything.... When that gets flowing I get pretty shaky as well. Theres a game called hardwar, pretty cool trading fighting elite type game. In multiplayer fights between human opponents lasts seconds, and you can lose alot (well it takes some time to get back into a position to fight again) That really gets my adrenaline levels up, almost painful. and when you win its almost as good as sex :/. Kinda like a rollercoaster :P.

But yea, for me in LFS its when ever I get close to someone else, cause I just keep thinking I'm going to ruin it for them :/.

I do when im ahead of a fast driver (im not that fast hehe), my hands start to shake but thats cool.