sim driving weirdness meets reality...

We've all been through the linear/non-linear, speed-sensitive steering thing with setting up our wheels in sims, but real life drivers have been spared - up to now. The following snip courtesy of Autoweek.com, on the new BMW 5. "...the weighting of the active steering felt odd, as if the amount of assist was changing all the time, which it was, of course. Changing the steering ratio gave it a sort of leveraged effect on the rack, an effect that was exaggerated since there was no constant ratio. The ratio vaulted from 10:1 to 18:1, a fairly big swath. This odd feeling could go away in time as we get used to driving the car, but initially it felt... different." And sure to be of amusement to FF users out there, here's something familiar - "One of the active steering cars (not ours) had to be reset several times when the active steering didn't return the steering wheel to center after a couple of quick, hard turns. A light came on on the dash and the driver stopped and restarted the car to reset the wheel to center-like reboot-ing a computer." Wonder if there's a config file line to shut that crap off... ;-) SB

"Steve Blankenship" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > "One of the active steering cars (not ours) had to be reset several times > when the active steering didn't return the steering wheel to center aftera > couple of quick, hard turns. A light came on on the dash and the driver > stopped and restarted the car to reset the wheel to center-like reboot-inga > computer." > The old "If Microsoft were building cars" story becomes reality...... -- Jone Tytlandsvik http://tytlandsvik.no

"Jone Tytlandsvik" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:bb0a7i$3hqd6$[email hidden]... > The old "If Microsoft were building cars" story becomes reality...... Yup, they already do BMW's I-Drive interface. I can see the accident reports now. "Vehicle operator was JRA when BSOD occured, sending vehicle into tree." ;-) http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/mar02/03-04BMWpr.asp

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

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> We've all been through the linear/non-linear, speed-sensitive steering thing > with setting up our wheels in sims, but real life drivers have been spared - > up to now. The following snip courtesy of Autoweek.com, on the new BMW 5. > > "...the weighting of the active steering felt odd, as if the amount of > assist was changing all the time, which it was, of course. Changing the > steering ratio gave it a sort of leveraged effect on the rack, an effect > that was exaggerated since there was no constant ratio. The ratio vaulted > from 10:1 to 18:1, a fairly big swath. This odd feeling could go away in > time as we get used to driving the car, but initially it felt... different." > > And sure to be of amusement to FF users out there, here's something > familiar - > > "One of the active steering cars (not ours) had to be reset several times > when the active steering didn't return the steering wheel to center after a > couple of quick, hard turns. A light came on on the dash and the driver > stopped and restarted the car to reset the wheel to center-like reboot-ing a > computer." > > Wonder if there's a config file line to shut that crap off... ;-) > > SB > > >

That Bavarian crap gets worse with each new release (of a car). I'm forced to drive a five series as a company car and I can't imagine that I'd be willing to let a computer do the steering for me (after all, there's no Shift-R) Therefore, when the current leasing contract ends, there will be some hefty fighting in the company to get a real car. Norbert

"Steve Blankenship" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> "Jone Tytlandsvik" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:bb0a7i$3hqd6$[email hidden]... > > > The old "If Microsoft were building cars" story becomes reality...... > > Yup, they already do BMW's I-Drive interface. I can see the accident > reports now. "Vehicle operator was JRA when BSOD occured, sending vehicle > into tree." ;-) > > http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/mar02/03-04BMWpr.asp > >

Funny how the press release mentions nothing about the serious system crashes which leave the 7-series dead on the road...

"Norbert D�rer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > That Bavarian crap gets worse with each new release (of a car). I'm forcedto drive > a five series as a company car and I can't imagine that I'd be willing tolet a > computer do the steering for me (after all, there's no Shift-R) > Therefore, when the current leasing contract ends, there will be somehefty > fighting in the company to get a real car. The adapting steering thing is an option. You will probably be able get your car without it. But who knows. Maybe it's a good idea and all cars will have it eventually. Only time can tell and I sure don't want to try it first! And I do agree that the BMW's gets uglier with each new model. -- Jone Tytlandsvik http://tytlandsvik.no

I fell out of my chair when I first heard about this "option." It is actually a safety hazard in my view, having had plenty of experience with it in sims. Oh well, BMW feels like people want more than just a driving machine (i.e., or else they won't shell out the big bucks), so this is what we get... Marc "Jone Tytlandsvik" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:bb0a7i$3hqd6$[email hidden]... > > "Steve Blankenship" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > "One of the active steering cars (not ours) had to be reset severaltimes > > when the active steering didn't return the steering wheel to centerafter > a > > couple of quick, hard turns. A light came on on the dash and the driver > > stopped and restarted the car to reset the wheel to center-likereboot-ing

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> a > > computer." > > > > The old "If Microsoft were building cars" story becomes reality...... > > > -- > Jone Tytlandsvik > http://tytlandsvik.no > >