Started using manual without clutch in FH3 because of the drift zones (was not getting enough points with auto). And when my brain cracked the code I never wanted to go back.
For me driving with manual is funnier and I feel more in control over the car, and downshifting in races helps to get an advantage in sharp turns when breaking from high speeds (at least it feels that way).
I always use Manual no clutch in racing games when they have that option, I played with an XSX controller on PC.
Some driving/racing games won’t upshift the car too early while cruising so that’s why I use Manual mode so I could drive regularly well in games. I also use it for racing, so that’s the point where I use Manual no clutch all the time.
I know I’m repeating myself, but i want the ability to downshift in Auto just like irl without having to e-brake.
if I go from A to 5th, keep me there until I shift back up to A, or down to 4th. it’s pretty simple. I live on top of a mountain with a dirt road, this is how I drive all the time
The UK is the same. Pass your test in auto you can only drive auto
I drive auto in the game always as my old head and reaction times can’t be figuring out pressing more buttons while watching the road, checkpoints, cars, trees, houses lol
Drove manual irl since passing my test in the late 80’s as the vast majority of UK cars were manual only with the exception of luxury cars until maybe the last decade when auto has been available in much cheaper and smaller cars although my irl car for about the last decade has been either a Jaguar XJ or my current Jaguar XF which are both auto only
So I thought, and when I installed FH5 on my new laptop, I had to use manual with clutch properly until GeForce Experience optimised the game and it went back to “normal”. I do try to use the clutch properly, but I’m probably hitting the keys too quickly for that to happen.
Firstly, can definitely empathize with the “old head” concept Got my driver’s license in ‘84 & ironically my pilot’s license in ‘86. At least for me, once I got used to it, the shifting comes down to just listening more to the RPMs than actually watching for shift points based on visuals. Like I said before, it tends to become intuitive to the point that I will often attempt to “shift” when running something in auto
99% of the time I’m in manual w/o clutch. Drifting is a big part of the reason as people have mentioned as well as downshifting when in the wrong gear.
The way reverse works in auto is also a factor. Probably not in racing or rivals but it’s intrusive in freeroam and games. I think this was mentioned but imo just coming to a stop should always work with just the normal brake. In auto the brake turns to an accelerator just before the car stops. If you let up on it when reversing it turns back into the brake to stop the car and then will start accelerating the car in reverse again.
I will use auto at times for tuning so I can have telemetry up and the volume off. I will test tunes in auto sometimes to be sure they will work for players that use auto.
IRL I prefer manual trans. First car was/is manual (kept it but not driven for 25-30 years) and lived in an urban area where pretty much everything was a hill. I’ve always enjoyed the connection with the car that a real life manual with clutch adds.
I can understand some of the frustrations with the auto braking into reverse, but I’ve also been guilty of dumping gears too quickly in manual & ending up in reverse.
Thinking about this further, I’m wondering: when in auto, at what point does it actually shift into reverse? Is it when the car decelerates to a certain speed, a full stop or…?
Maybe it’s just because I’ve driven cars in a lot of arcade-style games, but for me “back on WASD = car goes backwards” is an ingrained expectation, and when it doesn’t happen in manual it totally breaks my brain.
There’s annoyances also in manual like you mentioned. I’ve also occasionally dropped to reverse in slow corners from an extra button press. I’ve noticed it seems easier to make that mistake when 1st is taller, for me at least.
There’s also this behavior when you are nearly stopped that it will drop to 1st gear on downshift no matter what gear you were in. For example, if in 4th and neglect downshifting it can drop to first rather than 3rd. This means the next is reverse when expecting 2nd. It seems to happen when I don’t expect and then not happen when I do expect it. wish I could turn that off too.
Besides all of what’s been said I still don’t know where to put my thumb on the controller while driving in auto.
@PD_Top_Gun I agree that it’s common in games. GTA is the only other game I can think of that I’ve driven much in freeroam so I don’t know how close others are implemented. Given the option I’ll always want the brake to just be that. For me it’s difficult to separate from RL.
Running the Monthly Rivals times tonight made me realize another major difference between console users with controllers & those using just keyboards: haptic feedback. I thought about this running the Ioniq due to the need to feather the throttle & turning input based on the feedback when the wheels start to lose traction, which I can feel first through the controller.
Has to be an additional challenge not having that with keyboard only I’m sure.
Started off at launch as an auto driver but switch to manual a fair while ago (rightly or wrongly) for a couple of reasons:
Obviously in manual I can push the revs higher, hence (in my mind) getting more out of each gear but more importantly, I prefer to use engine braking which can’t be done as effectively with auto.
On the rare / odd occasion, I have switched back to auto but then I have this issue too, which made me chuckle when I read it:
@ WhiteBurrito42 said: “I still don’t know where to put my thumb on the controller while driving in auto”
I reassigned rewind so my x, y, b buttons don’t do anything while driving in auto, my thumb rests on them with no chance of interference. I never really thought about it until now, when I do drive manual I just activate the buttons my thumb is already resting on (y and b, for up and down)
Definitely feels like this is one thing they got right with regard to the physics of the game. The subtle differences influenced by grip/turning radius/speed, etc & the resulting inputs can make a huge difference in the results.
Come to think of it this is another issue I’ve had with the default keyboard shift controls. More than once I’ve tried upshifting with E, but my muscle memory kicks in and I reach up to R instead and start rewinding without meaning to.