old theme - What exactly is default?

[Lupo]

Originally Posted by Stupid Jedi

The skill difference between manual and automatic transmission is being exaggerated by some. It doesn't take most drivers very long to figure out manual transmission -- normal skill familiarity should cover it. I have known plenty of drivers who said "I can't drive manual" who, after only a few days (maybe six hours), were driving with confidence. Of course, these were people with previous driving experience.

Anybody can easily *learn* to drive a car with manual transmission, but if you lack any driving experience, it's WAY more difficult to use a manual car.

The whole debate about "default driving" is probably biased by the U.S. perspective on the subject (that is, automatic cars, wider roads, comparatively low traffic, and driving exams intended for 16-yr old people).

In Italy to get a driving license you need to be able to drive a manual car and you are expected to perform some "not so trivial" task such as starting your car on a steep climb and correctly parking in a quite narrow space.

In real life terms, most Italian (and European, too?) licensed drivers probably have "half a point" in Driving or something like that. GURPS, being a roleplaying game and not a drive simulator, fails to appreciate the difference between "Driving at the default" and "some experience in driving, yet not a full point".

It's really *very hard* for a people without driving experience to correctly start a manual car and leave a narrow parking lot without failing to ignite the engine and hitting several times the car in front of you. This is especially true for 'old' cars that may lack power steering or require you to use heavily the gas pedal to ignite the engine.

My father used to own an automatic car and when I tried it, I noticed that even a drunken child could manage to start the car and drive in a quiet road. It's easier than a go-kart.
A manual car is a different thing.

(note: I am not assuming that Americans cannot drive, nor that Italians are better drivers. I want only to point out that, generally speaking, it will be easier to drive an American car on an American road than an Italian car on an Italian road, so some people who are considered "able to drive" in the U.S. would not be considered so in Italy. I am also speaking *very generally*, I do know that you have manual cars, narrow or uneven roads and traffic jams in the U.S., too; in Italy these things are simply *way* more common)