My following discussion is purely for driving on normal roads and does not include track racing!
I often hear people say "this car is dull to drive, that car is thrilling, that road is boring" etc.
Then I start to wonder, what exactly makes a driving enjoyable?
So, I prepared a list of attributes that required for driving enjoyment. This is my personal list so others may differ.
Driving pleasure often associtated with psychology of driver. Same road in same car, one might find interesting while others may find it boring. Once mind must be in a state of good mood to enjoy driving. Seldom people enjoy their daily drive to work!
I think driving pleasure is a combination of following parameters
1. The state of mind of driver
2. The road
3. The car
Let's talk about roads. Nobody, as I am aware of, enjoys driving on a congested stop-start traffic in large town. But nearly everyone enjoys a scenic drive along country side. People tend to like twisty country roads more than straight motorways.
So, we can rank roads like this - town (worst), motorway/long straight roads (medium) and twisty country roads (best)
However, I get panicked if I have to drive thru a single track road, with bushes both sides. So, just a sceneic route is not enough. The road itself should encourage relaxed drive.
Next the car, probably the most important bit. Same route, driven in an expensive and luxurious car will feel different (at least for first time). As soon as you start to drive a better (in your mind) car, your mind automatically climbs up a higher level of achievement.
But you can have fun in same car which you drive daily. I noticed that body and mind feel thrilled when the car producing high power, which happens at lower gears with high RPM. The sound of engine roaring and feel of power along the road gives rise to thrill in mind. That is why it is often said a drive in sports car is thrilling.
A sports car offer following features over most standard cars
* A powerful engine
* A lower seating position - where you sit lower to ground which gives a feeling of high speed ride (compare a video shot at car's bumper level compared with that of in normal windscreen level)
* A high RPM engine experience (as stated above)
* The mental feeling of driving something special
However, as I already mentioned, one can have driving pleasure in normal car too. Provided it is driven to spawn thrill.
An off road driving is also very thrilling with a good 4x4. I was quite spellbound in my first ever off road experience with Land Rover.
Surprisingly, I did not find any difference in driving pleasure between manual and automatic cars!
I often hear people say "this car is dull to drive, that car is thrilling, that road is boring" etc.
Then I start to wonder, what exactly makes a driving enjoyable?
So, I prepared a list of attributes that required for driving enjoyment. This is my personal list so others may differ.
Driving pleasure often associtated with psychology of driver. Same road in same car, one might find interesting while others may find it boring. Once mind must be in a state of good mood to enjoy driving. Seldom people enjoy their daily drive to work!
I think driving pleasure is a combination of following parameters
1. The state of mind of driver
2. The road
3. The car
Let's talk about roads. Nobody, as I am aware of, enjoys driving on a congested stop-start traffic in large town. But nearly everyone enjoys a scenic drive along country side. People tend to like twisty country roads more than straight motorways.
So, we can rank roads like this - town (worst), motorway/long straight roads (medium) and twisty country roads (best)
However, I get panicked if I have to drive thru a single track road, with bushes both sides. So, just a sceneic route is not enough. The road itself should encourage relaxed drive.
Next the car, probably the most important bit. Same route, driven in an expensive and luxurious car will feel different (at least for first time). As soon as you start to drive a better (in your mind) car, your mind automatically climbs up a higher level of achievement.
But you can have fun in same car which you drive daily. I noticed that body and mind feel thrilled when the car producing high power, which happens at lower gears with high RPM. The sound of engine roaring and feel of power along the road gives rise to thrill in mind. That is why it is often said a drive in sports car is thrilling.
A sports car offer following features over most standard cars
* A powerful engine
* A lower seating position - where you sit lower to ground which gives a feeling of high speed ride (compare a video shot at car's bumper level compared with that of in normal windscreen level)
* A high RPM engine experience (as stated above)
* The mental feeling of driving something special
However, as I already mentioned, one can have driving pleasure in normal car too. Provided it is driven to spawn thrill.
An off road driving is also very thrilling with a good 4x4. I was quite spellbound in my first ever off road experience with Land Rover.
Surprisingly, I did not find any difference in driving pleasure between manual and automatic cars!
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