Automatic Transmissions

Is it just me or are automatic transmissions just, meh, right now?

For me at least:
-Many cars have almost zero throttle response. I'll slam the accelerator to the floor and watch the RPMs climb as if I'm putting in 10% power
-Some cars get stuck in one gear and will not accelerate unless you move to manual mode.
-The Bluebuck stock car upshifts when it gets to low RPMs past gear 1

 

The keyboard controls are like that for some reason. I use mouse steering and acceleration witch makes the transmission feel like a real automatic.
Mouse from a dead stop

Mouse when already moving

Keyboard from dead stop

Keyboard when already moving

 

There have certainly been times where IRL I've been slowed down a lot by a car in front of me, I've gotten annoyed, and pushed the accelerator down with an instant response.

No surge/lag/sticking at low RPMs because that could potentially be extremely dangerous. Imagine a semi truck is rolling up behind you and you press your accelerator only to have the engine stick for 2-3 seconds.

 

Well, if you're using a keyboard, your inputs will be very heavily smoothed, so it'll mess with your acceleration. Also, on an older automatic like in the bluebuck, the 2 speed and 3 speed have pretty long gearing, which means they will struggle to downshift even if you mash the throttle. Even modern cars with 6 speed autos will think for a second before downshifting, and I have been in that exact semi situation before, mostly due to my own stupidity. If you mash the throttle on a modern auto, it will take some fraction of a second to decide to shift, then rev up the engine without really coupling any power before shifting.

 

I was thinking about talking about the automatic transmissions on mainly the older cars of BeamNG (ones from the 1980s and earlier), and I see there's already a thread that talks about the very thing I was thinking about. Still, I'm gonna sing my words about it based on my experience.

While the shifting logic on newer cars feels pretty much fine.
The older cars where the shifting aggression is controlled purely by the throttle position alone, I notice the "aggression" meter stays pretty low throughout most of the throttle's range, until around ~80 percent throttle when the shift points start to move up to the higher rpms for more acceleration.
But now that I know that this game's throttle aggression input also has to account for keyboard users too, I can pretty much live with the shifting logic that currently stands now, since I've never had a problem with it. (I drive with an Xbox controller mainly)

Though what I do want to bring up is torque converters, particularly the locking torque converter, As soon as the vehicle gets into 3rd and 4th gear, the torque converter instantly locks into overdrive regardless on how fast the car may be accelerating, which can be pretty jarring when it shifts early, especially when climbing up a hill where more throttle and engine speed is needed.
With the up-shifting being very early at any throttle input that's less than 80 percent can result in the engine bogging down quite badly (especially when I give very little throttle input like ~30 percent), until you either floor the throttle or force the transmission into second gear. (or just change out the locking torque converter with a regular torque converter)
I wonder if there will ever be a sort of input feature that will control when the torque converter will lock? Kind of like how some cars have an extra position in the gear selector for overdrive, while other vehicles may have it's overdrive controlled by a button/switch?

 

OT: I'll be controller-less until Monday. Is the mouse a good temporary control? I don't like using the keyboard.

 

Yes it is. I like because A.) I'm not spending $200+ on a racing wheel (I also don't like the feel Beam with my Xbox controller) B.) It gives you control over your vehicle WAAAAYYY batter than keyboard and mouse. I still have to use the keyboard for the clutch tho. Some tips I have is that when you bind it you want to set a kind of large dead zone so you don't rev the engine if just wanted to steer. Lastly turn off your engine when using menus or it will just rev your car constantly every time you go to click something at the top of the screen.