rec.autos.simulators

jb

Normally (and it goes for the triptonic shifters on Europeans and American
sports cars) it's the right paddle for gear up, and the left paddle for gear
down.  It's the same in F1 where the upshift button is on the right of the
wheel.

It's mostly philosphical with the linearity (from left to right ---->  )
that the Modern world uses for the most part for reading, writing, etc..

One funny thing is.. For sequential shifters, most of the CART drivers pull
forward to shift down and pull backwards to shift up.  It's quite the
opposite of what we had in Touring car, where the sequential shifter they
had (but it's user-configurable) goes forward to shift up.

For me I pull backwards towards me to shift down, as it means I will go
slower, thus going towards me ;-)

-= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank>
-= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/
-= SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/
-= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s.
-= May the Downforce be with you...

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Hmm good point here, maybe it was us who were wrong with our sequential
transmission ;-)

Actually why is it that some Rally drivers push forward to go up a gear ?
It's personal preference I would say.  Even if the body is pushed back on
under acceleration you don't use much forces to torso your wrist to change a
gear.

-= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank>
-= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/
-= SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/
-= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s.
-= May the Downforce be with you...

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

touring cars with the shifter mounted on the floor/center console is
exactly the same as CART, pull it back to shift up, push it forward to
shift down. e.g. Volvo S40, BMW 320i, Honda Accord, Nissan Primera

But  most Touring cars with steering column mounted shifters are Push
Forward to shift up, and pull back to shift down. Eg Vauxhall Vectra
and Peugeot 406

--
Nathan Wong          http://www.nectar.com.au/~alfacors
                        - Super Touring - Alfa Romeo -

                            - V8Supercars - CART -

See you later, Eric

http://members.xoom.com/simracingmag/

SIM RACING MAG and Ferrari Challenge online

usually anyway ... if you are more comfortable the other way go for it

regards
shane

However, with many manufacturers developing systems individually, inevitably
there will be no de-facto standard. Add to that the influences of individual
driver's preferences and what is "pretty obvious" to one is unuseable by
another. Some systems will dictate which way the levers move depending on
the location of the lever relative to the driver, considering the method of
down shifting which can include quick multiple movements and up shifting -
lower frequency - are different.

Others will use the equal logic of pull back=slow down.

I have read of several reports by drivers & journalists testing a car to
announce how difficult it was to adjust to a different implementation of
sequential shifting. Villeneuve got Williams to redesign their paddle system
for him - so they used 2 different systems for their drivers.

Taking into account the physics of uneven heavy braking & changing lots of
gears (say 6th through to 2nd) it may be more accurate to pull against the
forces to stop inadvertantly going down one extra gear due to the physical
forces aiding the hand. Hence rally drivers seem to tend to work the
"opposite" way. But again I doubt there is a standard.

I always found the twist grip on a motorbike to be odd - Rotate it backwards
to accelerate! I guess comfort is the factor here so logic doesn't always
prevail. It works well enough though.

Guess its not so obvious after all!

Cheers

Tony

I use forward to shift down and  backwards to shift up (like CART, RAllie,
etc...) cause when you are braking the arm tends to go forward, and when you
accelerate out of a corner, goes backwards (cause the G forces)   :)

McKafre De La Rosa

The post from "jb" was reasonable and did not warrant a response that
indicated his post was frivolous and its answer obvious. In addition, the
response offered was far from comprehensive and others did find it
offensive, as indicated by the coolly sarcastic and informative response
from Tony Rickard.

Just trying to promote a little civility in RAS. You'll find that, with a
few notable exceptions, we're a pretty civil bunch.

Regards,

Jack

JMD.

Just want to mention, some F1 drivers have a clutch mounted on the wheel
(Mika Hakinnen, Coulthard, Villeneuve to name a few) So they actually
upshift/downshift on the right side of the wheel, they have a paddle to
upshift
and a button to downshift (could be other way) and use a paddle on the left
side as for a clutch...

See you later, Eric

http://members.xoom.com/simracingmag/

SIM RACING MAG and Ferrari Challenge online