Re: (Patch) Automatic gear shift

Hi David
> I will check out the r1-3-1 branch (testing will take several days).
> Also I'll look into the quaternion for car body rotation that you
> mentioned, because it looks interesting.

In simuv3 it is done already, including taking some calculations from 
"2.5D" to 3D, but it requires careful review and integration back into 
simuv2. Beware, I still want to have the DOF (degree of freedom) 
limited, because flipping over cars is no use case in a racing simulation.

> The patches show my attempts to make TORCS better; the good patches
> get used, the others are for conversation :)

Avoid thinking in good and bad, take it more as different, but valid 
point of views;-)

> The following are my qualitative observations of random TORCS stuff:
>
> I was looking into the moment of inertia, still am, and here is my
> latest comment: "max steer speed" feels like it augments the moment
> of inertia. My favorite value is 12 deg/s; this does not make the
> steering slow, it seems to filter out "twitchy" steering. Press 4
> on the keyboard while driving and look at the steering forces vector.
> car4-trb1
> <section name="Steer">
> <attnum name="max steer speed" unit="deg/s" min="1" max="360" val="360"/>

If you use a steering wheel this should not matter, because you cannot 
move it as fast as a gamepad stick, otherwise you can adjust it to your 
needs...

> In torcs/src/drivers/human, after some calculations:
> car->_steerCmd = leftSteer + rightSteer;
> Is it easy to make a purely linear steering formula that puts
> linear mouse movements into linear steering (rack and pinion)?
> I need some hints to get me on the right track.

This was confusing for me at the beginning too, but it is caused by the 
fact, that you can assign a different control for left and right steer.

> I read somewhere that TORCS determines the engine speed from the wheel
> speed from the car speed. I've noticed that the engine loses rpm while

It is not that simple, the whole thing is a connected system, I think it 
is modeled well. The only thing not covered from my point of view in the 
simuv2 drivetrain is the energy conservation when the clutch closes. 
There is an attempt for that in simuv3 too (needs as well careful review 
before integration into simuv2).

For drifting you might adjust mostly the tire properties and increase 
the ride height, e.g. read this post here: 
http://sourceforge.net/p/torcs/mailman/message/30024487/

Kind regards

Bernhard

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