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London - A fantastic goal or a high-speed lap around a race track - scientists compare football and fast cars to find out which causes more excitement for fans.
Football vs fast cars
The experiment is simple - track the heartbeat of fans watching a UEFA Champions League match and the same participants driving a Nissan GT-R around a track.
In partnership with with the Loughborough University, England, Nissan fitted participants with wearable technology to monitor and gather data. This included heart rate, breathing rate and electro-dermal activity, in order to examine the physiological effect excitement has, and ultimately determine which activity is more exciting.
Live match experiments took place during UEFA Champions League fixtures and were compared to the reactions of passengers raced around by professional drivers in Nissan GT-Rs at the famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
Making comparisons
Results show that while both watching an exciting game of football and driving a supercar can produce the same amount of breaths per minute, the average heart rate is slightly more when driving in the Nissan GT-R.
Check out the result:
Watch the clip below:
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When comparing the findings from the two sets of experiments, Dr. Dale Esliger from Loughborough University commented: “Previously we would have subjectively judged how exciting a crunch football fixture or being a passenger in a thrilling super car, like the Nissan GT-R, would be.
"The research conducted as part of the Nissan Excitement Index has allowed us to use innovative sensor data to understand the participants’ physical reaction to these exciting moments and thus make suggestions on what elements might be the most exciting.
"Throughout the two sets of experiments the heart rates of football fans and Nissan GT-R passengers were broadly comparable, with them increasing at peak moments as you would expect – such as when a goal was scored or driving round a tight corner.
"The main differences we saw were the physiological responses of the passengers and football supporters breathing rates. During the football matches we saw breathing rate increasing followed by a reduction in breathing rate, as fans held their breath during key moments of anticipation, thus demonstrating their excitement journey across the course of 90 minutes is more of a rollercoaster of emotions.
"Whilst for the GT-R passengers breathing rate consistently increases, suggesting a more sustained feeling of excitement.”
