Driving Skill Level?

[eg6_dude]

The recent heel-toe-downshift thing got me thinking. I would assume that some of us here at GTPlanet have a drivers license. I would also assume that we all regard the roll of driving different and we all have different driving abilities.

So basically I am asking you to rate your own driving skill! Please try to be as honest as possible when answering this poll. I have been wondering what the vast majority of GTPlanet's members are in real life!

(once again please try to be honest and reasonable when judging your own ability) 👍

(You don't actually have to be a F1 driver, just you think you could be or you don't actuall have to be a professional driver just you think you could be!) 👍


To start it out I will honestly tell you that I think I am an 8 right now, but with more seat time (in motorsports, have a lot of autocross/track day experience) I think I could be a 9!


EDIT: added some additional information on my next post!

 

[///M-Spec]

How? On a scale of 1 to 10? Fair, good or excellent? In what context? Commuting? Canyon carving? Track days?


M

 

[Duke]

Everybody thinks they're an above-average driver.

 

[Perfect Balance]

I haven't been driving very long, but I've been to a couple autocrosses with fairly good results. I've done drifting before without any major mistakes. I know how to heel-toe pretty good. I've been in situations before where I had to threshold brake and counter steer and such, so my reactions are better than the average "slam on the brakes" type of driver. I would say I'm between an average driver and a good driver, but I voted good driver just because it's higher up on thee list.

With the things you have listed, the average driver would fit in the poor driver's description. At least in America.

EDIT:The average driver doesn't drive hard, at least in my book. Maybe this is according to performance driving, with 1 being someone who drives like everyone else on the streets. In that case I'm only a 3 or 4.

EDIT: I feel kind of stupid putting myself up there in the 7-8, but I think you should have gone into more detail. I fit the description of good driver better than average driver, but from 1-10 I fall into the average driver.

 

[Scaff]

Everybody thinks they're an above-average driver.

Very, very true.

I've been driving for almost as long as eg6_dude has been alive, worked in the motor industry for over a decade, trained dealership staff in driving theory and technique, attended a vast number of advanced driving courses, spent hundreds of hours on track and at proving ground.

So how would I rate my-self, well in the above poll I would say at most a 7, and I even hesitate at that. I've driven with too many amazing drivers over the years to do anything but acknowledge that driving is a process that you are always learning.

All I can say is its a good job its not a public poll, I wouldn't want to be the person who scored myself a 10!!!!!


Nah a very hesitatant 7 would be as high as I would go.

Regards

Scaff


BTW - Nice new avatar Duke.

 

[skip0110]

Average, I guess? I'm better than many people I know but I'm sure there are many, many people much better than me.

 

[Race Idiot]

I'm not going to give myself a number because I can admit i'm not a great driver. I taught myself revmatching, heel toeing and was taught how to double declutch. I've had a couple of moments in the wet when i've had the back end out and corrected it, but realy apart from that I know I need to be taught some actual technique.

I realy want to do some sort of course that would improve my driving skills and I found this site which looks like something that would be worth my while. Hopefully i'd like to take one of these some time in the summer.

 

[Duke]

BTW - Nice new avatar Duke.

Thanks. I'm bummed. The GIF I have is actually about three times that long and half again as wide. This is what I had to brutalize it down to to fit in 20k.

 

[Omnis]

Can't people be happy with their license class?

 

[TB]

I think I am at the top end of the Average Driver. If nothing else, due to the vast array of vehicles I've driven (Semi's, Badger Breaker, Forklifts, etc.), my location (North Dakota) and 15 years of driving with no accidents.

Could I get into a Rally Car and drive Pikes Peak, Grand Canyon, etc.? Hell no. Well, I could, but I guarantee there won't be any records broken.

 

[Casio]

Lets be honest. I've had 3 accidents in 6 months. And I've run over pretty everything there is to run over.

I'll take the 0.

 

[Tornado]

I'm probably either the most or second most competent driver in my entire student body (with first possibly going to my best friend). I'm decent as is, scared to hell of the consequences of pushing my limits, and I've taken many classes. But I'm still young. I drive a slushbox-equipped off-road vehicle, and I am an incompetent buffoon on a motorcycle. I'd say 5 is the absolute highest I could rate myself, most of that being due to my previously mentioned overcautiousness.
But, give me a few more years for experience (at least 6) and a car with a stick (lord knows I don't understand how automatic transmissions work) and I'll improve. Maybe. Though I will still be a total tard on a motorcycle.

 

[wfooshee]

Best in Solo II class for 2 or 3 years in two nearby SCCA regions, was competitive in the few divisionals I entered (but under-equipped, can't afford a set of tires for every event I run!!!!)

I'm well above average in skill, have made several saves on the highway ( a non-statistic - how can you count accidents you avoided?) I know how anti-lock works and where it's good, where it's bad. In after-event fun-runs I can get into almost anybody's car and come VERY close to their time if they're driving well, beat their pants off if they're newbies (all for the purpose of teaching them, of course.)

I rate myself a 7, possibly an 8. If I'm rating against people I drive with, I'm a 5. If I rate against the general poplation, I'm a 9.993574. If I rate on this scale as described, then a high 7.

 

[Sharky.]

Sheesh, Brad, I wouldn't want to be in a car with you!

I have my restricted licence (which is basically the same as the full, except you can't drive real late at night and you can't carry passengers), but I don't drive anywhere. (Then again, maybe because I only got it two weeks ago. Or the fact I haven't got a car).

Ask me again in a few years and I might be able to give you a definitive answer. As it stands, my driving instructor said I was a good driver.

 

[wfooshee]

Sheesh, Brad, I wouldn't want to be in a car with you!

I have my restricted licence (which is basically the same as the full, except you can't drive real late at night and you can't carry passengers), but I don't drive anywhere. (Then again, maybe because I only got it two weeks ago. Or the fact I haven't got a car).

Ask me again in a few years and I might be able to give you a definitive answer. As it stands, my driving instructor said I was a good driver.

To a driving instructor (as opposed to a high-performance driving instructor) that means you can see and you know which pedal to use.

Just kidding, I know what you mean.

 

[Casio]

Sheesh, Brad, I wouldn't want to be in a car with you!

Well, I haven't had a claim yet actually.

My first one was when I reversed out of my driveway and into the rear quarter panel of the passing Commodore Wagon. Luckily , he was replacing it next week anyway because he was getting a tow bar, he ever offered to buff his paint of of my car.

The next time the power went out while I was driving, it was wet and then a blind corner came up and I plowed through a paddock at about 80km/h. Again, no damage to me, but a small tree came off second best.

Then a couple of weeks ago I broke my garage door by driving into it. I'd been driving my mum's auto that week and totally forgot that you can't just release the clutch while stopped in gear. I'd stopped about only an inch away from the door, and again, the door came off second best.

And now I think about it, I crashed a ride-on mower into a roller door at work about a month ago. Spent an hour hitting it back out so it would actually open.

 

[eg6_dude]

This poll was supposed to be a overall general evaluation of someone's driving ability from highly skilled racing driver to a civilian driver to a poor overall driver. It was not meant to be a poll rating your performance as just a civilian driver or just a performance driver. It was meant to include the general public wether you are highly skilled or just drive to the market everyday. I guess I made the assuption that performance drivers are good civilian drivers as well, which could not always be true.

If you are a performance driver and you think your a 5 among all performance drivers then rate yourself in the middle of the performance driver catagory I provided on the poll and rate yourself according. 👍

(the good driver category is considered to be above civilian, and sort of like a entry level driving enthusiust.)

Sorry for any misunderstandings, I didn't mean for it to be so confusing. i just meant for it to be a basic scale to evaluate around where your driving skill is. I didn't mean for it too be so specific or serious.

Just have some fun and put yourself where you think you belong using some facts that you know about yourself as a driver and how you compare with others.

(If you don't have any motorsporsts experience then I would automatically rate yourself a little lower, because you probably havn't even experienced drivers on the top of the scale yet. 👍 )

 

[Perfect Balance]

It was meant to include the general public

In that case, I made the right choice. The general public sucks. I get scared when driving with my sister. She drives better than like 75% of the "normal" population, but man, people are so careless and un-cautious(I don't think that's a word).

 

[Diablomonkey]

I was racing before I ever got into a car on a public road. I did a lot of go karting and even went to California for the Red Bull F1 drivers search. Now how many people can say that they tried out to drive an F1 car

 

[Keef]

On the scale presented I'll rate myself an Average Driver. I don't have any competition experience, wether it be track days, autocrosses, or even drag racing. I've done all my driving on curvy counrty roads, and even a few nice ones within town. I have a few driving buddies who are older and more experienced than I, both of them having taken part in autocrosses around the area, and they say they "like the way I drive" and "You're pretty good for a kid without any experience." Maybe. We'll see once I'm brave enough (have money for suspension mods) to go to a track day or something.

I do some things while I'm driving that are important, but basic. I know how to decipher different lines through a corner, I can see the benefits and detriments of different lines, I try to find the quickest way to connect corners, I keep weight transfer in mind and try not to upset my car, I try drive smoothly, the beginnings of that "feel" show in my responses. I don't know how to explain the whole "feel" thing, but I seem to be able to understand the car and what's going on well enough. Also, I never drive a car hard the first time I've driven it, and I do the same for new roads. It takes me quite a few trips to get comfortable driving a road hard. I don't know exactly what I'm doing in the meantime, but I guess I'm just scoping it out or something.

Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did. Anyway, I suppose I show great driving potential, and one of my dreams is to gain more experience through driving schools and competitive racing. I try not to make myself sound better than I am, because I know I've made mistakes, including a minor accident, and I've seen other accidents happen. But I haven't scared myself out of driving yet. A couple other friends of mine have almost given up on curvy roads after an accident, or an "Oh, ****!" moment, but I've decided that driving scared or nervous isn't a good thing to do.

 

[///M-Spec]

Based on this scale, a 7.66. I arrived at this number because I recently PAXed in the upper third at a larger Solo II event in what I consider a very competitive region. Based on that, I would describe my skill level as.... 'modest'.

So where's the choice for "mid-pack fodder"?

At the smaller local level, I do better and sometimes PAX in the top 10. I've taken a couple Local Class Championship plaques home. But it's all comparative. I'd be happy not to be DFL at Nationals.


M

 

[Duke]

Based on this scale, a 7.66. I arrived at this number because I recently PAXed in the upper third at a larger Solo II event in what I consider a very competitive region.

Did you run at one of the Warminster events without telling us...? Sly dog.

 

[somebody]

4.5 from me. As an everyday driver I would rate myself as a 6 or 7, but on the track only 2 or 3 (good at picking the right line but suck at picking the brake/power points)

 

[///M-Spec]

Did you run at one of the Warminster events without telling us...? Sly dog.

No it was back in the summer with the NNJR at E-town. I guess August isn't exactly 'recent'.


M

 

[Slick Rick]

Im a really bad driver. Ive been driving less than a year and could be getting in trouble with the law for reckless driving and for not stopping at a scene of an accident. I would say Im a bad driver, No nice car for me if the case goes through because my insurance will go through the roof!

 

[Sureboss]

Why didn't you stop?

I think it would be premature of me to say what level I am at. Though I do feel comfortable at the wheel. Just don't have a license....

 

[Dave A]

I'd say I'm an average drive, nothing more, nothing less. I've had my "just started" accidents quite a while ago now, at least a while in my terms (a few years) and I've now got 4 years no claims, I'm not a track driver. I haven't taken any advanced driving courses though I would love to in the future time permitting. I think in the last two years I've become far more patient, not just with the car but with other road users.

 

[TB]

I think in the last two years I've become far more patient, not just with the car but with other road users.

Assume all other drivers are idiots so you are pleasantly surprised when they aren't.

 

[kennythebomb]

I voted as a 4.

I've been in one major accident (not my fault) and one or two other small mishaps. As for racing ability, well I feel I have a lot of potential for it but I just haven't done it to the extent to be able to realize it yet.

 

[Sharky.]

My first one was when I reversed out of my driveway and into the rear quarter panel of the passing Commodore Wagon.

a small tree came off second best.

again, the door came off second best.

And now I think about it, I crashed a ride-on mower into a roller door at work about a month ago.

I'm probably about a 4 or 5.