A new study showed that off-roading can be as thrilling as driving a McLaren. Researchers used monitors to track brain and heart activity during five different driving tests. They found that low-speed off-road experiences and karting sessions gave participants high levels of excitement, similar to driving a fast racing car.
The study identified three key factors that converge to create the thrill of driving: visceral, intellectual, and emotional.
The visceral factor refers to an intense state of mental and physical stimulation.
The intellectual aspect is about how engaged one's mind is with the task at hand.
Finally, the emotional factor is about balancing excitement with fear while driving.
To determine which driving experiences best deliver this combination of factors, study participants were subjected to five different driving tests.
These included low-speed off-roading, karting, laps in a McLaren Artura GT4, laps in an open racing car, and a passenger ride in a JP-LM sports prototype driven by a professional racer at PalmerSport's facility in Bedfordshire.
During these tests, participants wore monitors for their brain, eyes, heart, and skin.
An electroencephalography machine (EEG) was used to analyze 'frontal-midline theta,' a marker of focused cognitive engagement.
Heart rate variability (HRV) monitoring assessed the balance between stress and recovery in the body.
Galvanic skin response (GSR) testing measured arousal intensity through skin conductance, while eye tracking measured fixation, blink rate, and saccades to determine if arousal resulted from 'focused flow' or anxious scanning.
The study found that participants experienced the highest thrill while driving the McLaren.
However, when they were passengers in the JP-LM at similar speeds, they showed signs of anxiety, indicating their brains were getting overwhelmed.
High levels of thrill were also observed during low-speed karting sessions and 8.05km/h off-road experiences.