this is a great idea, as it would allow finer control over vehicle speed without the need to use pedals

okay so I noticed ArmA3 actually has something like this, but not quite as useful.

Q allows you to drive slow, like 20km/h.... which is too slow to be honest. and E allows you to speed up, much like what shift does. and thats about it. I would still prefer above mentioned for better control.

bump

Meh, just a more responsive auto transmission would really solve the problem. I already use analog controls for throttle and steering, but the vehicles seem to have trouble downshifting for hills.

To be honest; I don't think people are waiting for a car simulator and just want to drive away with their automatic.

However, to solve the 'steep hill' problem, why not add a high/low-ratio gearbox?

This will give the driver the choice to drive at high speeds (high ratio), or climb steep hills without dropping dead (low ratio). With a simple button or key-combination this could be changed by the driver, but only when the speed is below 20km/h (otherwise it would break the gearbox).

At the high-ratio setting you'll have a top-speed of (eg.) 100km/h, but can't climb steep hills unless you have a momentum already.

At the low-ratio setting you'll have a top-speed of (eg.) 60km/h, but you'll be able to climb steep hills even from a stand still.

// not voted, since I don't support the OP solution. However it's a feature that could be addressed.

Well firstly my solution isn't much different from yours, both offer high and low gear solution for alternate purposes. The difference being mine is a tad more complex because you have different adjustable gears, for better control.

A comparison, your version is equivalent to ARMA 2 stances, mine is ARMA 3 adjustable stances. More control is always preferred.

But hey, they can actually just simplify it, with auto keys, as well as adjustable keys like the stances. Z as prone can act like low gear for climbing terrain, X can act like normal speed to. manage tight streets and road ways in towns, and C can be your top gear for high speed travel. Something like that, it mimics the usual movement controls.

So that all said, there isn't a vast amount of control, since you climb hills at a specific preset speed, and you traverse towns at preset speed. And well that all is pretty much already there, and I'm not quite happy with that. Hence using Q and E our even the adjustment keyfor finer adjustment, like the stance animations... It can not be a bad thing what so ever.

Upvote,I can't stand using "break" pedal of my controller to reverse a car instead of shifting to R gear and using Accelerator even for Auto Transmission

A very nice idea which is corresponding to the new car control by mouse, too.

(quote)To be honest; I don't think people are waiting for a car simulator and just want to drive away with their automatic.(quote)

This isn't about making a car simulator (that would require far more than you might think) but vehicles have been and still are painfully arcadey & gamey.

Lets not forget vehicles are used a lot in this game and we'll need to put up with
them for few years to come. Furthermore its not just adding physx and being done with it, when gearbox and other parts of some vehicles are nothing short of subpar.

/upvoted

I would love something like this included.

Also, it wouldn't have to be quite so complex as a gear system, but BI could just implement a setMaxVelocity command that allows us to define our own gear system, cruise control systems, or refine vehicle max speeds.

KeyHandlers can be used with that command to define manual gears, and other scripts could use the command to better restrict the vehicle for other uses.

The one thing I don't understand is, vehicles cap their own speed when driving on different terrain (hatchback for example drives only 27km/h off any type of road) but it also factors in hills... allowing scripters access to this would be amazing.