Cognitive load
How hard the brain is working into each braking zone, each overtake, each restart: the load that decides where the lap time goes.
SPARK Simracing · Car simulator
Neurotechnology for simulators and simracing
Telemetry records everything the car does. SPARK Simracing adds what it cannot see: the driver's cognitive load, attention and fatigue, measured from brain activity and aligned with the telemetry, corner by corner, in a car simulator.
01 · What it reads
What SPARK reads in a racing driver
Three layers of the human, on the same timeline as throttle, brake and position.
Attention and fatigue
When focus narrows, when vigilance drops across a stint, and which corners pay for it.
Physiological cost
Heart rate and head movements next to the brain signal, so mental effort is told apart from physical effort.
02 · Why the brain
Why the brain, and not only the heart rate
Heart rate and breathing rise with physical effort and with mental effort alike. From the outside, a heavy braking zone and a moment of doubt look the same. Only a signal taken from the brain separates the two.
Synchronised with telemetry, that signal becomes a channel an engineer can work with: the lap where load peaked, the corner where attention dropped, the stint where fatigue set in. It turns "the driver felt off" into data.
The one channel car telemetry cannot reach.
03 · What it doesPerformance, training, safety
Performance, training, safety
On every lap
In the simulator, SPARK records brain activity, heart rate, head movements and the car telemetry on one timeline. Here is what that gives the driver and the team.
Performance
- Live coaching, corner by corner: each corner compared with a reference lap of the same car (braking, minimum speed, throttle pick-up, time gained or lost), shown live next to the simulator.
- A debrief after every run, lap by lap: a summary, what to work on first, then corner by corner.
- Car telemetry and brain activity aligned on one timeline, so every input can be read with the driver's state behind it.
Training
- A logbook for each circuit that compares all of the driver's runs, corner by corner, to show what is improving.
- A structured training protocol: a reference session, targeted sessions on braking, line and consistency, then a retention check without coaching.
- Every session kept in the reference cloud, so progress can be followed week after week.
Safety
- Fatigue and alertness measured continuously, across the whole session.
- Head movements and heart rate, recorded lap after lap, through the longest stints.
- The driver's reading, brain and heart, in the debrief whenever the sensors were worn.
04 · The referenceAn absolute reference,
An absolute reference,
and a coach on every lap
SPARK does not stop at measuring. It builds an absolute reference for each car and circuit, the best lines and the best brain states, and coaches the driver towards it while the session runs.
Best line
The best trajectory for each car and circuit, made of the best passages measured.
Best brain state
The brain and body states measured on the best passages, as a target to drive towards.
Telemetry to the millisecond
Every input recorded to the millisecond, aligned on the brain to within a few milliseconds.
Head and car in space
Where the head turns and where the car goes, in three dimensions, corner by corner.
The ghost
Race your best lap like the ghost of a video game: line, speed and brain state.
Live coaching
Advice during the session, corner by corner, not only in the debrief.
05 · Who it's for
Who SPARK Simracing is for
Driving schools, academies, drivers, sim racers, teams and their coaches: the same measurement, put to work for what each one does in the simulator. A reference for each car, coaching, the mental state measured and progress followed over time.
Driving schools
Teach on the simulator, and see what each student takes in.
- A reference lap for each car, to show every student the line and the braking points.
- Live coaching, corner by corner, alongside the instructor.
- Cognitive load measured to pace each lesson, and progress followed student by student.
Academies with simulators
Your simulators become a measured training programme.
- One reference for each car and circuit, shared by every simulator of the academy.
- A structured protocol: a reference session, targeted sessions, then a retention check.
- Each driver's progress and mental state, followed session after session in the reference cloud.
Racing drivers with a simulator
You prepare on a simulator, at home or with your team: make every session count.
- Live coaching against the reference of your car, and the ghost of your best lap.
- Your cognitive load, attention and fatigue measured, through the longest stints.
- A debrief after every run: what to work on first, corner by corner.
Sim racers
What top-level programmes measure, now at your rig.
- The ghost of your best lap and an absolute reference for each car and circuit.
- Live coaching, corner by corner, while you drive.
- Your focus and fatigue measured, and a logbook per circuit to see what improves.
Teams and driver development programmes
An objective read on every driver in the programme.
- Every driver compared with the same reference, car by car and circuit by circuit.
- Each driver's mental state and fatigue measured, next to the telemetry the engineers already use.
- Progress followed week after week, to guide each driver's development.
Coaches and race engineers
A human channel next to the telemetry you already trust.
- The driver's state aligned on the telemetry, to within a few milliseconds.
- A debrief by AI and algorithms, corner by corner, ready to act on.
- A replay that overlays the line, the telemetry and the driver's state.
06 · AccessThis data is no longer
This data is no longer
reserved for a few
Measuring what happens in the driver's head has long been limited to a handful of top-level programmes. SPARK makes it available to every sim racer, every driver and every team, in the simulator.
The case and the instrument
Everything travels in one case: the instrument the driver wears, the box and its touchscreen. Opened next to the simulator, running in minutes. Brain activity, heart rate and head movements, captured from the first lap to the last.
The software
Next to the simulator: the driver's state and the telemetry on one timeline, with algorithmic coaching corner by corner while the session runs, and a debrief written by AI.
SPARK Cloud
The reference cloud: telemetry, biometrics and EEG from every session, with the debrief, the circuit logbook and the progression over time. It also holds the performance models and the optimal reference models (circuit, EEG, biometrics), trained on every measured session.
07 · Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is neurotechnology in simracing?
It is the measurement of the driver's brain activity, typically by EEG, to understand cognitive load, attention and fatigue at the wheel. SPARK Simracing does it in a car simulator and aligns it with the telemetry, corner by corner.
What does the driver get during the session?
Live coaching, corner by corner, against an absolute reference: the best line and the best brain state measured for that car and circuit, with the ghost of the best lap to race against.
What does SPARK add to car telemetry?
Telemetry tells you what the car did. SPARK tells you what the driver did and why: the load, attention and fatigue behind each input, on the same timeline.
And in a real car?
Motorsport in a real car is one of the domains of the instrument: the same measurement of the driver, aligned on the car's data.
Who is SPARK Simracing for?
Driving schools, academies with simulators, racing drivers who train on a simulator, sim racers, teams and driver development programmes, coaches and race engineers.
How do I get access?
SPARK is fitted programme by programme. Request access and someone on the team answers you personally.
Further reading
Articles on this subject
Resources · 5 min read
Driver Cognitive Load in Motorsport: Definition and Measurement
What a racing driver's cognitive load is, why it costs lap time and how to measure it with questionnaires, EEG and heart signals. What the science says.
Read the article Resources · 5 min readEEG in Race Cars: Why Measuring the Driver's Brain Is So Hard
Motion, vibration, electrodes, synchronisation: why measuring a driver's brain activity inside a car is so hard, and what the published studies actually show.
Read the article