Hi all,
after the release of fairshift version 1.0, i received a few replays from drivers using gplshift with clutch. It seems that the usage of clutch in gplshift cannot really be monitored in the GPLRA report (shifting times). They still showed very fast shifting times of 0.111. In reality they were a bit slower of course in order to engage the clutch but it cannot be monitored in a league. The reason is that the gpl clutch is a bit limited. Its on / off without any way of modulation. In GPLSHIFT you stick in a gear as long as you press the clutch pedal enough.
Still it was a motivation to improve fairshift (in development for version 2.0) to make it work with a clutch pedal. It will support multiple gaming devices for ppl who use a special pedal set thus one for steering (one device), second for pedal work. Clutch pedal can be assigned and monitored in fairshift to see which one it is. One question remains regarding a realistic approach:
In a normal road car you can modulate clutch and gas. GPL doesnt support that cause its clutch on / off (full). I was thinking about two activation points for the clutch. One activation point to allow a gear change but then you also have to release the clutch enough in order to accelerate again. So there are in fact two points monitored. What i heard from GPLSHIFT is that you can press the clutch pedal a whole way down and it doesnt show a single reaction till that one single activation point. Thats it. I would expect that if you press clutch pedal a little bit, then the rpm goes high without any acceleration. In order to make a gear change you have to press it fully down. Thats what fairshift is trying to simulate (with small buffer zones due to calibration issues and dirty potis) with two activation points.
Thats an approach and behavior you would expect from a road car. You are in gear with pedal to the metal (gas) and press clutch a bit and rpm goes crazy suddenly but its not enough clutch to switch gears. But what about formula cars of that age? I dont have any data about the clutch behavior from those except some small data from modern formula one cars (they seem to have a very narrow area where clutch is working for the start). On top of that what do GPL drivers think of simulating these two activation points? In fairshift you can try pressing clutch a bit and then you are basically in neutral but not enough to change a gear. For a gear change you have to press it down enough but also release more.
We are also looking for some testers if there are ppl interested in. Only prerequisite is H shifter and a working clutch pedal
Screenshots from a version in development:
Edited by DieGrueneHoelle, Aug 18 2013 - 03:32 PM.
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