Driving Default: Yesterday I reality-checked it . . .

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Icelander

To me, that describes a typical commuter. But then, we don't have freeways designed to automate the process of driving as much as possible and there is no culture of unskilled drivers who don't know what a clutch is for and consider white stuff falling from the sky the first sign of the impending apocalypse.

I have a funny story about some poor drivers in South Carolina confronted with the white sky stuff, but in their defense it was a completely unusual situation for them.

My fellow Canadians have NO excuses, and yet at least in Ottawa everyone seems to panic in the first snowfall of the year. I think not enough people are getting snow tires...

[Captain-Captain]

It would be Law (Traffic), not rules Lore. The game itself wants to uncomplicate things. EVERY aspect of operating a vehicle in traffic and other conditions is covered by the Vehicle skill. You don't roll Law skill to see if you remember to use your turn signals then a Dex based skill to make the turn itself.

The way die rolling works NO ONE has any real chance of getting through ten miles of traffic when you make that many rolls.

Since the reality check is most people who make ten mile long drives arrive safely in the expected amount of time, the reality check here is that you DON'T overcomplicate driving.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I have a funny story about some poor drivers in South Carolina confronted with the white sky stuff, but in their defense it was a completely unusual situation for them.

My fellow Canadians have NO excuses, and yet at least in Ottawa everyone seems to panic in the first snowfall of the year. I think not enough people are getting snow tires...

Some years back we had a storm out here in SoCal, where actual SNOW was getting past the mountains and falling in the foothills of the northern San Fernando Valley and actually hitting the 210 freeway. One of the radio stations (all news format) had their traffic guy at the anchor desk, where he'd explain repeatedly how to brake in snow, go to a story and cut back to the traffic guy where he'd repeat the snow braking info another couple of times then go back to a news story.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Icelander

To me, that describes a typical commuter. But then, we don't have freeways designed to automate the process of driving as much as possible and there is no culture of unskilled drivers who don't know what a clutch is for and consider white stuff falling from the sky the first sign of the impending apocalypse.

That is not a typical commuter here, we do have a culture of unskilled drivers, the majority of which would look in horror at a clutch, the majority of which can't drive in snow or rain, the majority of which can get lost using GPS directions.

Like I said though, it's not necessarily completely unskilled usage, most people would be Dabblers, but spending an hour a day driving on the highway with cruise control on isn't an hour of skill training, it's just high TDMs for common easy tasks.

And since people are texting, putting on their make-up, eating, listening to music and talking on the phone during that hour a day, it's no surprise that someone is always driving off the road on any long stretch of road on a daily basis.

[DouglasCole]

Honestly, in most cases I think that what is going up isn't the DX based part of driving, which for most people probably starts at default, maybe goes up with Dabbler, and stays there.

What goes up is the Per- based part of driving. Most accidents are avoided not through quick maneuvering, but by noticing that the dork in front of you is weaving around, talking on the cell phone, and has a minivan full of kids playing dodgeball in the back.

Or, for a more realistic personal example, I was following an 18-wheeler tractor trailer. A car shot by me on the left, and then slid in in front of the rig...but traffic was backing up in front of us all. Suddenly, the truck had well less than half the (formerly safe) required braking distance, slammed on his brakes, and did the only thing he could...jerk left into the lane.

I foresaw all of this coming, backed off to a safer distance, and stayed in my lane, since I knew the truck could only go left.

Successful Per roll meant that I didn't have to rely on DX.

Most accidents in ice and rain are precisely that...failing an IQ or Common Sense roll, driving inappropriately for conditions, and moving from the Per zone into the DX zone.

[Kale]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

Stick shifts *do* allow more control over the amount of power the engine is providing to the wheels, so a "power user" will still prefer a stick -- sports cars are the most common place to still find stick-shifts. Though Nissan's Z line of sporty cars is mostly automatics now, with a kind of "move the selection to this place and make it work like a stick with no clutch" hack. (My station wagon has that hack! I never use it, but I suppose it'd be good for things like driving up the Mount Washington road, where you're supposed to keep the car in first or second gear the whole way up.)
I could probably still drive a standard transmission, but they're pretty awful on hills. The first time we did "hill practice"... Well, the instructor had a brake on *his* side of the car, and it took three feet to get that car going and not stalled. O:p (mine on clutch and gas, his on brake).

I have no talent for stick shift at all. Managing the clutch is pretty much impossible for me. On the other hand, I tend to shift a lot more than most people when I drive an automatic transmission car. Most automatic transmissions have four 'settings': 1, 2, D, and D with overdrive disabled. Drivers tend to stick their car in 'D' and forget about it. If you are driving DOWN a steep hill though, downshifting to 1 or 2 allows your engine to provide extra drag on the drivetrain and provides additional braking force. This is important on really long downhills where you can literally melt your brake pads by continually braking. I use a combination of engine braking and regular brakes to minimize wear and tear on my brake pads on long hills. Also, when you are going up a slight hill, sometimes the overdrive gear will keep kicking in and out. Overdrive is a high-efficiency top gear meant for economy cruise. Your car defaults into it. There is usually a little button on the side of the shifter underneath the locking button that disables overdrive. This is handy for passing, hill climbing, or any other situation where you want to keep your RPMs up.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Kale

I have no talent for stick shift at all. Managing the clutch is pretty much impossible for me. On the other hand, I tend to shift a lot more than most people when I drive an automatic transmission car. Most automatic transmissions have four 'settings': 1, 2, D, and D with overdrive disabled. Drivers tend to stick their car in 'D' and forget about it. If you are driving DOWN a steep hill though, downshifting to 1 or 2 allows your engine to provide extra drag on the drivetrain and provides additional braking force. This is important on really long downhills where you can literally melt your brake pads by continually braking. I use a combination of engine braking and regular brakes to minimize wear and tear on my brake pads on long hills. Also, when you are going up a slight hill, sometimes the overdrive gear will keep kicking in and out. Overdrive is a high-efficiency top gear meant for economy cruise. Your car defaults into it. There is usually a little button on the side of the shifter underneath the locking button that disables overdrive. This is handy for passing, hill climbing, or any other situation where you want to keep your RPMs up.

Luck of the draw, one of my neighbors growing up got into Driver's ed early back in high school and got his license while most of us were waiting for summer to take it.

He drove me a few times. Shifting his automatic transmission.

Critical failure occures, bits of automatic transisson all over the street.

I avoid shifting gears in an automatic transmission with almost religious fervor.

[Opellulo]

In my experience the most people use driving skill at default level and keep there for the rest of their life no matter how many years of driving experience they got. Most of the time a person drive mindlessly (following the car ahead or repeating a well known route below "safe speed") only when both these condition lack you're actually using your driving skill and gaining hours of practice in it. In my experience (and in my games) the driving skill is only for entusiasts or professionals.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Opellulo

In my experience the most people use driving skill at default level and keep there for the rest of their life no matter how many years of driving experience they got. Most of the time a person drive mindlessly (following the car ahead or repeating a well known route below "safe speed") only when both these condition lack you're actually using your driving skill and gaining hours of practice in it. In my experience (and in my games) the driving skill is only for entusiasts or professionals.

So, in your experience, there is no difference between someone who has been shown how to use the controls (justifying default) and someone who has driven for 10 years if both of them are forced to drive a car of a different make than what they are used to (both unfamiliar)?

[smurf]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

With the engine on, releasing the clutch, slowly, in first gear will start the car moving. The engine idles at 1500-2000rpm, usually, and thus always has a limited amount of 'go-forward' potential.

If you release the clutch quickly, you'll stall.

Mine idles at between 900 to 1100 rpm. It sits at 70mph (110kmh) at 2000 rpm.

I find the term stick shift amusing. As there is an automatic transmission and its opposite is a manual transmission.

There is a degree of snobbery in Europe that considers automatic cars as go karts. However, I do like cruise control.

Moreover I think there is a culture shock when it comes to what types of vehicles on offer.

The funny thing is Ford is chasing Citroen in the WRC, all other marques are not even in the race!

WRC demonstrates varied skills for driving, even the world champ doesn't favour snow but the Fins lap it up (ok no pun intended).