Low Range 4x4 Academy · Ulusaba rangers

Moto‑R

Twenty minutes on what we are going to do this morning, what each test is actually looking at, and how we run eight of you through it on two controllers.

There is no pass and no fail

Ulusaba Private Game Reserve · 14 September 2026

Press → to advance · M for the map

Before we start

There is no right answer and no wrong answer

Moto‑R does not ask you anything you can revise for. It does not know the bush, it does not know Land Rovers, and it is not a driving test. It watches how you handle information coming at you — how fast, how steadily, and what happens to you when it speeds up.

What it is

Five short computer tests. About 45 minutes of actual testing each.
Every one of them measures reaction, timing, coordination or attention — the same things you already use every morning on the vehicle.
It records what you did and how long you took. Nothing else.

What it is not

Not an exam. Nobody passes and nobody fails.
Not a test of intelligence, education or experience.
Not a game you can beat by going faster — rushing shows up as clearly as hesitating.
Not something that goes on your record as good or bad.

The only instruction that matters

Do it your way. Work at the speed that feels natural to you. If you try to look good, the numbers describe someone who is trying to look good, and that is no use to anybody.

You will make mistakes. Everyone does — the tests are built so that you do. A miss is information, not a mark against you. Carry on with the next one and do not think about the last one.

If something goes wrong — the controller drops, the screen freezes, you did not understand the instruction — say so immediately. We stop and restart that test. A run you were not ready for is worth nothing to us.

Moto‑R candidate briefing02

The plan

Eight rangers, two controllers, four pairs

We have two stations. You go in pairs, you both start the same test at the same time, and while one pair tests the other six are outside. Nobody watches anybody else being tested.

The rotation

Pair	Who	Runs
ONE		Full battery, 5 tests
TWO		Full battery, 5 tests
THREE		Full battery, 5 tests
FOUR		Full battery, 5 tests

Write the names in on the day. Pair people who are not going to put each other off. If somebody would rather go alone on one station, that is fine — it costs us one slot.

What a pair's turn looks like

Sit down, log in. We do that for you. Your name is already on the system.
Every test starts with practice. It does not count. Use it — that is what it is for.
Then the real run. Nobody talks to you during it.
Test finishes, next one starts. Stretch your hands between tests, there is no clock on the gaps.
Five done, you are finished. Send the next pair in.

Time About 45 minutes of testing per person, plus practice and settling. Budget roughly an hour per pair and about four hours for all eight.

Moto‑R candidate briefing03

Your input

One controller, and the colours match

You hold a standard Xbox controller. The four face buttons are coloured, and the colour on the button is the colour on the screen. You do not have to remember a code.

What each control does

On the controller	What it answers
A — green	The GREEN light
B — red	The RED light
X — blue	The BLUE light
Y — yellow	The YELLOW light
LB — left shoulder	The LOW tone — low is on the left
RB — right shoulder	The HIGH tone — high is on the right
Left stick / right stick	The two cursors in the coordination test

Two things that help

Low left, high right. The two tones are the only part people have to think about. Low tone is the left shoulder button, high tone is the right. Say it once and it sticks.

Rest your fingers on the buttons. Do not hover. The test measures the gap between seeing and pressing, and hunting for a button adds time that has nothing to do with you.

One test is not on the controller. The last one, Cognitrone, is a looking-and-comparing test — you do that one with the mouse and the number keys. We will set it up for you.

Printed copy There is a one-page button sheet on the table. Look at it during practice, not during the run.

Moto‑R candidate briefing04

Test 1 of 5 · about 8 minutes

Determination — how you hold up when it speeds up

Coloured lights and tones come at you and you answer each one with its own button. It starts at a comfortable pace. The better you do, the faster it comes. That is deliberate.

What you do

The screen shows a button — the same one that is on your controller. Press that button.
A tone sounds — low tone, left shoulder; high tone, right shoulder.
Keep going. The test answers back: correct, wrong, or too slow.

It is meant to get too fast. At some point it will outrun you and you will start missing. That is the test working, not you failing. Keep answering.

What we measure

Reaction speed — the gap between the signal and your press.
Accuracy under load — whether you stay correct as the pace climbs.
Stress tolerance — what you do when it is clearly too fast: keep working, or fall apart.
Recovery — how quickly you are back on it after a miss.

On the vehicle: a radio call, a guest's question and a warthog on the road, all inside two seconds. This is that, in a chair.

Moto‑R · The five tests05

Test 2 of 5 · about 6 minutes

Time Movement — judging where something will be

An object crosses the screen and then disappears behind a screen before it reaches the mark. You press the button at the moment you believe it arrives. You never see whether it did.

What you do

Watch the object move and read its speed.
It vanishes part-way — sometimes early, sometimes late.
Press when you think it has reached the target. That is the whole answer.
Speeds change every trial, and some paths curve, arc or bounce.

No feedback in the real run. Practice tells you early or late; the test does not. Trust your own timing and do not chase the last one.

What we measure

Timing accuracy — how close you are, on average.
Bias — whether you consistently go early or consistently go late. Both are useful to know.
Consistency — whether your timing is steady or all over the place.
Speed range — whether fast things fool you more than slow ones.

On the vehicle: judging whether the elephant crossing ahead clears the road before you get there, or whether you lift now.

Moto‑R · The five tests06

Test 3 of 5 · about 7 minutes

Two-Hand — two jobs, two hands, no taking turns

Two cursors, one on each stick, each to be held on its own target — and the targets move. The hard part is not the steering. It is doing two different things at the same time without one of them going quiet.

What you do

Left stick drives the left cursor, right stick the right cursor.
Keep both inside their targets. The targets do not always stand still — later they orbit.
Both cursors have to be inside their targets at the same time — one on target is not the task.
Nothing else to press. Both sticks, start to finish.

Something will slip. Split attention is exactly what is being looked at. Get back on target rather than freezing on the one that got away.

What we measure

Time on target — how long both cursors are where they should be.
Coordination — whether the two hands work together or take turns.
Hand balance — whether the weak hand is carried by the strong one.
Recovery — getting back on target instead of freezing on the one that got away.

On the vehicle: steering, throttle and clutch on a slope, while the ground is changing under you.

Moto‑R · The five tests07

Test 4 of 5 · about 10 minutes

Signal Detection — staying awake when nothing happens

You monitor one circle and a background hum. Most of the time nothing worth reporting happens. Roughly one in four is a real signal — press when you see or hear one, and only then.

What you do

Signal: the circle flashes amber, or you hear a double beep. Press any button.
Not a signal: a dim blue flash, or a single lower beep. Do nothing at all.
There is a constant hum in the background, on purpose. It is not a fault.
It runs in short blocks with a break between them.

Doing nothing is an answer. Pressing on everything is not a safe strategy here — a false alarm counts as much as a miss.

What we measure

Detection — the real signals you catch.
False alarms — the times you press when there was nothing there.
Your threshold — whether you are a cautious reporter or a keen one. Neither is wrong.
Vigilance over time — whether the last block is as good as the first.

On the vehicle: two hours of empty road, and the one movement in the grass that was worth stopping for.

Moto‑R · The five tests08

Test 5 of 5 · about 12 minutes · mouse and keys, not the controller

Cognitrone — careful looking, not fast pressing

A reference shape, and a row of candidate shapes. Pick every one that matches it — and a match may be turned round or mirrored. Sometimes none of them match, and saying so is the right answer.

What you do

Compare each candidate against the reference, properly.
Select every match — there may be one, several, or none.
Click them, or use the number keys 1–6. Then submit.
If nothing matches, submit with nothing selected. That is a real answer.

This is the long one. It is the only test where taking your time is the right move. Accuracy is the point; speed is only recorded alongside it.

What we measure

Precision — of the ones you picked, how many really matched.
Completeness — of the real matches, how many you found.
Working style — quick and rough, or slow and exact. The balance is the finding.
Endurance — whether your care holds up over a long, repetitive task.

On the vehicle: the walk-around before you pull off — checking everything, not just the things you expect to be wrong.

Moto‑R · The five tests09

Afterwards

What we do with it, and what we do not

What happens next

Your five results are saved under your name as you finish each test.
They become one profile — reaction, timing, coordination, attention and care, side by side.
Johan and Dirk go through it with you if you want to see it. It is your profile.
It is used to shape training, not to rank the eight of you against each other.

A profile is a shape, not a score. Somebody quick and loose and somebody slow and exact can both be excellent rangers. The useful part is knowing which one you are.

Last three things

Use the practice. Every test gives you one and it never counts.
Ask before, not during. Anything unclear, ask now or in the practice — not in the run.
Tell us if a run went wrong. Hand slipped, dropped controller, did not understand it — we throw it away and do it again. A bad run helps nobody.

Once more, because it is the thing people do not believe There is no pass mark. Nobody is being measured against anybody else in this room.

Moto‑R candidate briefing · Low Range 4x4 Academy10