How good is clutch simulation?

Hi guys, i'm still using the old DFGT wheel with just two pedals and no H shifter.

How well does beamng simulates manual car, like can you stall it, can you roll the car with just the clutch etc?

I'm trying to find reasons to upgrade to G29/G920..

 

Yes you can stall, yes you can roll the car with just the clutch. Also, the clutch can overheat

 

Best clutch simulation in any game, as long as you turn off all the assists in gameplay settings.

 

One thing to take note of though, when you spawn in a new vehicle, it has a new clutch (surprise surprise, I know). To make it feel like something your more used to, you can change the dead zones of the clutch pedal to simulate a clutch with 50,000 miles on it that may have a bite point in the middle of its travel (like most of my cars). I kept stalling cars because I was used to a much higher bite point, but after adjusting the dead zones to be closer to what I expected, I can drive in game just like any of my real life cars no problem.

 

True, ive got a lot of linearity/non linearity to make it feel smoother while engaging and disengaging, absolutely love it.

 

The simulation of clutch-less shifting is I assume as good as it can get without forcefeedback shifters of some kind. In reality it's somewhat easier to float gears, particularly downshifting, than it is in game but that's down to a lack of feel and the fact that our desktop shifters are just switches after all. TBH after many hours of doing it with no aids I now always play with the "throttle assistant" on and just try to be true to how I know it is driving my manual trucks.
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So force-feedback shifters do exist apparently:
https://www.sensodrive.de/products/force-feedback-shifting-simulator.php

 

Not think so. BeamNG clutch is something compromise.

 

its better than the ON/OFF switches in other games..

 

What game has better clutch feel, in your opinion? Personally, I've played every racing sim that's come out in the last decade and BeamNG still holds true as most realistic in my mind. I think a lot goes into tweaking the settings to best match your physical equipment i.e. my Fanatec pedals have a different travel feel than the G27/G29 pedals I used in years past.

 

yep you are able to stall it.

 

Try to don't use clutch at all while gear change and you will see why it is compromise. It will totally out of powertrain chain. Because of that I can't even think about "better clutch", it's not simulated right in complex of transmission system.

 

I'm sorry, I assume English is not your first language so the translation is a bit tough to understand. If I attempt to shift without using the clutch, it will eventually shift into that gear while also causing slight damage to the transmission itself. This is as close to 'realistic' as you can get in a game since that's factually what occurs in 99% of all vehicles with manual transmissions (sequential/dogbox transmissions excluded obviously).

 

Try to engage 1st gear with idle throttle. IRL you will stalled immediately (even if gears don't brake), because of power lacking to drive from still (no difference have you throttle after or no). But in BNG, if you will add more throttle AFTER - car will drive. Is it normal?

My English is not great, sorry, you are right.

 

Ahhh, I understand what you mean now. I would say it's MOSTLY normal behavior, much of that would depend on the vehicle/engine setup. I had a little toyota pickup that you could dump the clutch on without any throttle input and it would either stall or lurch forward just enough to actually stay running and roll in gear just at idle. I feel like the change in flywheel weight is really where you can tweak the 'feel' of clutch engagement, depending on what you're looking for. Most of my manual transmission crawler configs I install the heaviest flywheel possible, as that helps maintain RPM's at idle when I'm crawling. My 'race' configs I prefer a lighter flywheel, as it helps RPM's drop faster between shifts.

 

Shifting clutchless isn't as difficult in real life, particularly downshifts. (I have a left knee I don't like to overuse because old injuries). For one thing you don't/can't just force it in in r/l like Beam apparently models at the moment you throw your plastic shifter. With a little bit of practice clutchless upshifting isn't too hard in BeamNG but downshifting still way more of a bitch than R/L in my experience. Literally in my manual pickups when I slow down I just brake, then if the speed is getting too slow for gear I pull it out, then when I'm reading to accelerate again I can just push into the appropriate gear with maybe a touch of throttle. In Beam the rev match target to downshift is just crazy hard to hit for some reason.

 

Hmmm, you can take ANY vehicle from the game and it will the same behaviour. Moreover, vehicle even DOESN'T TRY TO DRIVE then you engaging the gear........ not stall...... and then it drives as normal (lol). No, it's not normal.

 

Agreed, mainly because there's an added sense to be used in real life driving that isn't simulated, which is pressure being applied from the shift arm to the synchro's in the trans. Again, I'm not saying it's 1:1 with real life driving, but, it's well ahead of any other driving sim I've played.
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Maybe I have something different in my settings then, because I definitely cannot say the same from my gameplay experience. To me, it's the most realistic clutch engagement and shift behavior out of any sim I've played.

 

The clutch simulation in-game is very good, but realism depends greatly on setup. The clutch pedal from my G920 is very smooth and gets the job done, and i love using it, but it does not feel like a real clutch. It's very hard to emulate the multi-staged action of actuating a clutch pedal, and when I drove a manual for the first time recently, I felt that despite the "training" in BeamNG, I wasn't much better off. It works very well for conveying the mechanics of clutch operation, though. But yea, great in-game clutch simulation. 10/10.