rec.autos.simulators

If you hate nitpicking, don't read on.

First the question: Does the layout of the shifter in GPL reflect that
of an older racecar correctly? The pattern in the demo looks like
this:

R 1 3 5
  2 4

Shouldn't that rather be:

R 2 4
1 3 5

I seem to remember that early sports car 5-speed desings arranged
gears like this for two reasons:

1. You need first gear for getting off the grid only. You have to
shift between 2nd and 3rd quite often in slower corners. It's
reasonable to have those two gears on one level and hide 1st
someplace.

2. You save one level in the mechanics of your shifter and box.

Now for the wish: Could the final program please place the shifter in
a slightly different postion when it is in neutral. The way it
currently is, it looks a lot like 3rd gear. I know this is a realistic
position, but it is a bit confusing. If the shifter were a tiny bit to
the left in neutral, it would be easier to identify neutral.

Just a minor detail. It goes to show how great GPL is that I can find
nothing bigger to criticize. :)

--
Wolfgang Preiss       \ E-mail copies of replies to this posting are welcome.

Uni des Saarlands       \ and U.S. law. You have been warned.

Well, heck, I guess this group will go all silent when it comes out,
we'll all be sitting in our rooms with our "social antennas" cut
down................ Think of all the divorces, bankrupcies, failed
exams:))

Matt

--

Matthew Birger Knutsen
Cheek Racing Cars (http://www.racesimcentral.net/~kareknut)

"Racing cars is like dancing with a chainsaw"
       -Cale Yarborough

Although there are exceptions to this? just a theory you
understand....

8?)

*Peter*  8-)

I know for a fact, however, that some 5-speed boxes show the pattern I
described. You can find it in some of the smaller Mercedes trucks (not
a good example for a sportive car, I know) and the old BMW 635 CSi,
for example. In the Mercedes, the idea was to have the gears used most
often in town (2 and 3) in one gate. The 1st was just for starting
with heavy payload. I think it was in a magazine article about the BMW
that I found the info on the race gearboxes that share the same
pattern, and the rationale for it.

A related humorous story, if anybody cares:
A few years back, my cousin (a 'vintage' car enthusiast like myself)
owned an old '66 Peugeot 404. At the same time, I had a '65 Ford
Taunus. Both cars had shifters mounted to the steering column. Yet,
the Peugeot's layout was

R 2 4
1 3

and no lock which prevented you from going into reverse,
whereas the Ford featured the more conventional

R 1 3
  2 4

with a lock for reverse.
Imagine my repeated embarrassment whenever I borrowed his car... ;)
--
Wolfgang Preiss       \ E-mail copies of replies to this posting are welcome.

Uni des Saarlands       \ and U.S. law. You have been warned.

<Snip>

The same aplied to ZF-gearboxes. The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, a rally car
around 1980, had one fitted. The road car too.

<Snip>

Cheers!

Remco