I do not know how to drive a stick, having my husband try to teach me was a bad Idea. But, what about a simulator? They need to have them in Places where you get your drivers liscence. You pay maybe $5.00 and sit down in a car simulator and learn to drive a stick. No one to get mad at you when the gears scream.-- pss_10, Nov 29 2000 (?) http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/ The Ferrari 355 challenge game uses a manual with a slipable clutch pedal. I'm sure such an arcade game could be modified to become a simulator of a more normal car. [thejini, Oct 04 2004] I taught my self to drive a stick in my husband's car. Now THAT was a bad idea!-- O I C, Nov 29 2000 I learned to drive a stick by taking lessons from a certified driving instructor. No body yelled, and I learned really fast 'cause I had to pay for it. What's really funny is my husband can't drive a stick! Ha, Ha!-- chili2k, Nov 29 2000 My father told me the basics, and I went and fooled with it in my own car sitting still, then drove up and down the block until I had the hang of it.
Some video games allow you to choose automatic or manual, and a couple have clutch pedals. One of them has such realistic gear-grinding sounds if you goof a shift that I braced myself on the dashboard of the game to avoid hitting my head on the windshield...-- StarChaser, Dec 02 2000 What about replacing the steering wheel & pedals with a playstation game controller? A joystick driving method! Just like on your own playstation, but for real in your car.-- Phurge, Dec 03 2000 Sign me up for the pseudo-stick hardware kit for my automatic. I know how to drive a stick, and prefer it, but fiscal responsibility demands that I stick with my current, automatic-transmissioned vehicle.-- absterge, Dec 04 2000 Our new mall has a "NASCAR Racing". You pay $8.00 (or less if you buy time in bulk) and get into a realistic mockup of a race car mounted on pneumatic cylinders. The car sits in front of a wraparound video screen. You can choose manual or automatic transmission. Like StarChaser mentioned, it's VERY realistic - it's hard not to panic when you get bumped into the wall!-- mwburden, Dec 16 2000 I rather like your idea, Phurge. I think I could probably drive *better* with a video game controller than with a steering wheel, myself.
Then again, the analog stick from the N64 wouldn't be all too bad either... drive just as if you were playing Mario Kart, heh.-- codeman38, May 27 2001 This would be a tremendously valuable thing. Learning to drive standard is difficult and stressful, and combining that with something as inherently dangerous as driving is not good.
But I think that there is too much "feel" involved in manual driving for a simulator to model well. Even if you get the physics correct inside the computer, you won't have that jerky negative feedback that a real car gives you when you shift poorly. You can drive a videogame car by simply stomping on the gas pedal and stepping off the clutch, but that's often not the best thing in a real car.-- TickleMeElmo, May 28 2001 Mephista: I taught myself how to drive a stick on my first car. My father told me how to do it, and I went and piddled around in a big field across the street until I had the idea. It took me about 20 minutes to get a pretty smooth shift, and in a week it was perfect.-- StarChaser, May 28 2001 I was most disappointed to discover that this idea was not, as I had hoped, a witching simulation, possibly requiring an innovative broomstick controller.
In the UK there are two types of (car) driving licence. The 'manual' licence is by far the most common, and permits the holder to drive cars with manual transmission (or cars with 'a stick' as they are quaintly referred to in this discussion) and cars with automatic transmission. It is also possible to get an 'automatic' licence, although this only entitles the bearer to drive cars with automatic transmission.
Anyway, my point is that if you learn to drive in the UK, you learn to drive with a manual gearbox. The most daunting thing about learning to drive is learning to use the gearbox and the clutch, so I think that this simulator is an excellent idea, although it would only act as a confidence builder prior to doing it in a real car.-- Rodomontade, May 29 2001 You know that joystick driving system idea? *grin* It exists! I use a joystick to drive my van since I use a wheelchair. It's a trip...definitely not the same as a video game because it is MUCH more dangerous! But I love it! If you're curious and want to see, go to http://www.emc-digi.com. Look at primary driving controls and then Digi-drive. My system is actually a newer version of Digi, so if you see it, you get the idea!-- gracebymercy, Jul 02 2001 <From the rah-rah in the Digidrive link> "Acceptance by Vocational Rehabilitation Department in 50 states (except Texas), "
Did we get another state when I wasn't looking?-- StarChaser, Jul 02 2001 Here in Canada, you can be fully licensed having only ever driven automatic transmissions. The police can't do anything if they catch you attempting to drive a standard (disrupting traffic, maybe).
When I learned to drive, we took the ferry to a fairly empty (large) island just out of town and drove around in parking lots and fields until I got the hang of it. It's like riding a bike, or something; once you figure out how to let out the clutch and how high to rev the engine prior to moving, you never forget.-- Macwarrior, Jul 12 2003 Video game controllers wouldn't work, as a big part of shifting is the feedback. There's a field called "haptics" focussed on providing force-feedback through user-interfaces. This would be a good application for haptic technologies.
Just a driving simulator in general would be great. You could try crazy reckless stuff to get it out of your system, rather than doing it on the road.
All driving video games I've ever seen are nothing like driving a real car. Worst of all, you usually end up staring at your own vehicle from about 5m behind and 2m above.
If you do a have a real POV, then the handling is like driving a car on ice with busted steering.-- rossgk, Jul 12 2003 NO. First of all it's impractical, there are so many extremely subtle inputs that your brain computes, that ive never seen or heard of in any simulator, and that are essential to proper pedal control. And your problem is your teacher, you tried only one, and well you got what you paid for. I've taught many people how to drive stick(for free) and i love doing it and i never yell (except in jubilation).
secondly. What definitively taught me how to drive stick was one stall out on a hill at a stoplight, holding up for more than three cycles more than a dozen cars honking furiously, cursing at me. You can't get nervous in a simulator. I was driving my dads minivan that he bought with the smallest engine and when it blew he replaced it with a even smaller engine. the absolute hardest car to learn to drive stick on and i have never had a problem driving one since.-- davidcreede, Jul 21 2003 You should learn how to drive manual with an old VW beetle. It is pretty hard to hurt them, and the gear selector is all sloppy. Once you get that, you can pretty much drive any manual transmission. I think learning on an older car with a cable actuated clutch is easier than with a newer hydraulic clutch system, gives you more feel at the friction point.
Anyways, with regards to the simulator. I think that the idea is a good one. However it would be impractable because you would need it to rock by hydraulic or pneumatic action so you could feel the acceleration as feedback. The technology exists to make the simulator, unfortunately it would cost way too much.-- KLRico, Oct 23 2003 I learnt to drive on a simulator! :P in the UK a the BSM driving school has simulators which look kinda like those arcade machines you sit inside, its not perfect but it definately helped with the basics to have a few hours in there before getting in a real car. However the effect of driving was ruined when the computer crashed and the screens turned to the windows desktop :(-- tfga, Apr 20 2004 random, halfbakery