Can A.I. Teach You How to Drive Faster on Track?

[@j.g.pasterjak1782]

This was an immense amount of fun to be involved in. Both in watching the enthusiasm from two rookie drivers spike, and seeing just how good the Catalyst is with drivers with zero experience with data collection and analysis.

[@brunodemelo4997]

Garmin won’t catch a novice making bad driving decisions. Shuffling hands, lifting off brakes abruptly, etc. it has no idea what the driver is doing to unsettle the car.

[@j.g.pasterjak1782]

Agreed. Here's what I just posted on our message board: As I'm beginning to construct the print side of this story, I'm just getting more and more impressed with the Catalyst-and I was already impressed with the Catalyst. The thing it can't do, though, is tell you HOW to go faster in those areas where it's encouraging you to do so. It can give you the information on speed and line, but not technique. But a human coach, using the Catalyst for data and just working with the student on technique issues would have a HUGE advantage when it came to helping drivers develop. So, as a replacement for a human, the Catalyst is pretty darn good out of the box. As a tool augmenting human instruction, it's a monster.

[@brunodemelo4997]

@@j.g.pasterjak1782 I would believe the catalyst is for that person that already knows what good and bad habits are but need an extra push to know where to go faster. Similar to when you see someone very fast drive your car. Great tool.

[@ragweedmakesmesneeze]

Speaking as a very slow (the slowest frankly) SCCA SM/STL racer who also has several pro driving school certificates, I actually spent my last weekend of the season doing not a race, but an HPDE at Watkins Glen. And while I did get some "right seat coaching" in my first session out in the Miata, I found that there was too much going on for me to really take advantage of that coaches advice. New car, new track, plus a coach giving me advice while I'm trying not to crash into a blue wall. It was too much for my brain. In theory, I know what I should be doing, and at 5-6/10ths, I'm a pretty good driver. But at 8, 9 or 10/10ths? I'm sort of "terrible." So what ended up being most helpful for me? It was for ME to sit in the right seat, while the car owner (a much/much better driver/racer), zipped around the track. Because it showed me, in a very visceral way, what his car was capable of. And while it wasn't a "magic pill" that made me able to take long sweepers at terrifying speeds the next time I drove, I was at least a little more confident that I wouldn't end up in a wall if I pushed it just a bit more than I had been doing before.

[@robnuay]

Interesting study JG, enjoyed it. Have you looked at the Racebox? About a quarter of the cost and has some visual input on where you are slow. No voice in your ear. I'm thinking to get a lap timer and like the price. Always enjoy your columns by the way. Your "Asterisk-Reward" story had me laughing just the other day. Maybe the Garmin can give you good excuses to use if you get asked about your times too! ha ha (if you have read his column you will get it).

[@uv6er]

Looking at screenshot of that Catalyst thingie. I understand speed significance, video, location on map… how useful is/was g-sensors data with these guys?

[@aroundomaha]

I wonder how useful this would be for autocross. Having Racecapture with Solostorm helped me diagnose some challenges and get faster in 2022. It was best when I had a co driver so we could compare sgements.

[@j.g.pasterjak1782]

Right now the Catalyst doesn't have a point-to-point option, making it not really usable for autocross. We've spoken with Garmin about it, and they definitely have some ideas, and it's come up internally with the dev team, but right now they don't have the intent to implement anything that wouldn't be up to the standard of the rest of the function of the device. They do see us autocrossers out here, though, and know we're asking.

[@aroundomaha]

@@j.g.pasterjak1782 Congratulations to you and the guys on the level of improvement. I know how valuable it is to get fundamental feedback so that you know how to find, manage, and leverage the car’s limits and behavior. What I found out is that I habitually under drive, thinking I am at 10/10ths when it is more like 80-90%.