Clutch behaviour in game

This is a problem that was only barely fixed in Rigs of Rods 0.4.0.7 and I now finally see reoccuring in BeamNG Drive. I have one of the experimental versions, version 0.3.6.9, and the Ibishu Covet being driven with a Logitech G27 highlights this issue quite a bit. Almost immediately after I have started letting off the clutch, it just grabs. There is only microscopic variation to this, and as a result not only does it make it hard to drive the Ibishu Covet but it also bogs down the car a lot in automatic transmission as you have to pop the clutch in 1st gear to get the car moving and then shift as high as you can as a result. I would like to know...is it possible that the clutch can be manipulated some to feel smoother but still firmly engage when it reaches a certain point? That would not only give extra realism to the vehicle but also allow the automatic transmission system to cut the vehicle a break a bit, and if tuned correctly can make the automatics not only more responsive but able to lock up fully at higher speeds. I have brought up this issue in the game before but couldn't quite put my finger on why startoff of the automatics was so sluggish even at full throttle until now, as well as why the manual is slightly difficult to drive sometimes.

 

You realise the clutch pedal is not used at all for automatics? Pressing the pedal on an automatic car shouldn't be doing anything at all simply because an automatic has no clutch pedal.

 

I believe the behaviour of the automatic transmission "clutch" (torque converter) is determined by 'viscousCoupling' in jbeam. 'clutchTorque' may also have something to do with it, but I'm not entirely sure if the point the torque converter locks is directly tunable.

 

The current manual transmission physics are really bad IMO. Like what OP says, you can't normally slide the clutch out to get going, and even so, the wheels seem to resist movement alot even after dropping the clutch and it only seems to get normal in second+ gear.

 

This thread is old now...the clutch behaviour seems to be better for a manual transmission now, but the Covet has a little bit of struggle when it tries to get going in automatic mode, no matter the engine upgrade. Aside from that the transmission behaviour has been drastically improved in my opinion.

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The game uses the same clutch system as the manual transmission but controls it on it's own...it simply attempts to simulate the effect of a torque converter. Also, as I just mentioned this simulation method of the clutch has been drastically improved over previous versions of the game.

And in real life, a torque converter does not have a clutch but does have a component which acts similar to one...back in the early days of automatic, automatic transmissions were absolutely ridiculous gas hogs on the highway. You know why? This component of the automatic transmission has become standard in every one of them long ago already, and here is exactly how it is similar. The torque converter actually locks when you reach the final gear in your automatic in the same way you re-engage the clutch after completing a shift with a standard, and this allows the engine to directly drive the drivetrain through this final gear instead of multiplying torque like it usually would, which actually turned the tables for highway fuel efficiency back when it became a standard operation of the automatic transmission. (Standards still get better gas mileage in towns and some cities, however.) Just like a standard transmission, you cannot change into another gear at all when the clutch is locked. (Although there is a method of doing this with very specific RPM's in some standard transmissions, even if you can do it as easily as walking it's still pretty rough on the transmission.)

 

I don't really mind the imperfections of the manual transmissions in the game, but the clutch feature simulated with the automatics has a few slips (transmission joke). First off, when shifting into the individual gears (the 2 and 1 after Drive) the clutch/torque converter feature doesn't seem to work at all with any of the vehicles. I would think this would be an easy fix. Another thing I noticed is more of a bug with the Grand Marshall's automatic, I'm not sure how many other people experience this but when you put the car into drive, move forward, then hold the brakes all the way down the car still inches forwards. I would think this has to do with the clutch feature and how it should have more slip, even during normal driving conditions there really isn't a near perfect connection between the engine and transmission until about 4th gear when modern automatics initiate a lock-up clutch.

My last complaint about the automatics really doesn't have to do with the clutch feature but the layout of the D- and H-Series shift pattern. I'm not sure how many of you know about towing but most of the time when you're towing heavy loads you want to keep the transmission out of the overdrive gears to prevent damage to your drive train. This is the thought process behind the Tow/Haul mode in many trucks, vans, and SUVs; the feature slightly alters the shift points and keeps the transmission out of overdrive gears (4th gear in a 4-speed, 5th gear in a 5-speed, 5th and 6th gear in a 6-speed). This feature is fairly common since 99.9% of transmissions these days have overdrive compared to transmissions from before 1980 that topped out at 1:1 gear ratios. The D- and H-Series don't have a towing mode for the transmission and I think they should if the developers plan to incorporate trailers and loads and keep the game as realistic as possible.

 

Not sure how many other vehicles will do this but i rode in a 2011 gmc sierra and under normal acceleration the torque converter will lock up in every gear except 1st.