DFP, default shifting is backwards?

  • Thread starter panjandrum
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panjandrum

panjandrum

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OK, in my opinion the default shifting pattern of the DFP is reversed. Now I admit to having only driven 2 vehicles with sequential shifters in my life, but both of them shifted opposite of the way the DFP shifts out of the box. In other words, if I was actually in a car, shifting forwards (towards the front of the car), should shift you into a higher gear, and pulling back (towards the rear of the car), should shift me down through the gears. This is also consistent with the way center-mounted automatics work (forward goes to a higher gear). It isn't a generally big deal, I switch my settings and all is OK, until a friend who drives with the DFP comes over and is used to shifting the other way. Too much playing with settings all the time to shift properly. I keep telling him it is backwards and he should reverse his settings when he plays at home so he doesn't get confused all the time.

So, does anyone know what the logic is behind the way the DFP shifts? It certainly doesn't make any sense to me unless they were trying to emulate only the shift from first to second gear on a true manual transmission (but if that is the case, why wouldn't PD / Logitech program it so that 1st to 2nd = back, 2nd to 3rd = forward, 3rd to 4th = back again, etc.?)

Since the DFP *is* a sequential shifter, shouldn't it behave like a real one?
 
straight out of the box mine shifts correctly..... forward for gearing up, backward for gearing down..... just like my mates R34..... personally i prefer a clutch in real life.... but thats a bit off topic.
 
ah, so the DFP has them as up = up and down = down. My Williams wheel does that too and I just remap the controls so its my preferred way round. I always thought this was just a problem with my wheel. Thats good to know.
 
Hmmm - Im not entirely sure who is right or wrong here, im a bit confused.

Out of the box in Richard Burns Rally pulling back is up and pushing forward is down, as also indicated on the DFP with a "+" symbol on the back and a "-" in front of the shifter.

This is how it should work in real life as far as I am aware. Also did a quick search on google, here is a quote I found.

"Even better was that the directions were right, pushing forward downshifted, pulling back upshifted, the way it is in a true sequential manual transmission."
 
From all the in-car footage I can remember seeing, racing cars (british touring car in particular) has push away from the driver as shift down, pull towards the driver as shift up. This is how my DFP is set up, and as far as I know that's the way it's meant to be.
 
Don't Worry About the Confusion, some cars are simply different when it comes to this feature.

When I drove an RS6:

Up=Shift Up

Down=Shift Down

Conversely in a BMW 545i it was

Up=Shift Down

Down=Shift Up

Pics:

The RS6 Plus's Shifter

03.jpg


This is an M5, but all Bimers are the same.

DSC02196.jpg


Use whatever if more comfortable, I personally prefer the BMW setup, but to each his own.

I'll have to pull up the Top Gear Video of the DBR9, to see which way the Aston shifts gears.
 
christofire
From all the in-car footage I can remember seeing, racing cars (british touring car in particular) has push away from the driver as shift down, pull towards the driver as shift up. This is how my DFP is set up, and as far as I know that's the way it's meant to be.
Click to expand...

That was how saw things as well, from a racing car point of view anyway.
 
Hey I remember watching WRC a while ago and when Marcus Grundholm was downshifting into a turn he was pressing up on his shifter, so I think that some race cars have it seemingly backwards and that my be what Logitec was going for, you shift with the momentum ,when you accelrate you're pushed back, when you brake you're pushed forward.
 
SSN22
Don't Worry About the Confusion, some cars are simply different when it comes to this feature.
Click to expand...

Ah, I had a feeling it might come down that. I'll leave mine "reversed" from the default settings, since to me, forward is logically a higher gear and backwards is logically a lower gear. That's the way it has always been in real-life situations for me and I'm definitely too old to change :-)

Thanks for the info and the screen-shots, it clarifies things nicely.
 
It used to be up for up and down for down but a few years back some clever engineers switched it around so it better matches the way your body reacts in accelerating/decelerating situations.

If the car is accelerating you need to switch up. The acceleration pushes your body back into the seat, so apparently they made the new sequential boxes to sort of go with that for a more natural action..... Well, you get the point ;)

Anyway, I guess most race/rally cars use the 'new' system now, but I guess a few street/stock cars still use the 'traditional' way of doing it.
 
The reason some cars shift this way is because if you think of it while you are shifting up you are accelerating and while shifting down you are decelerating.

Let's say you are doing some heavy breaking and downshifting, you will be getting thrown foward in the car, it is then easier to push foward on the stick than it is to pull back.

Conversly while accelerating hard you will be getting pushed back and it will be easier to pull the stick back than to fight to push it fowards.

In most day driver cars it's not an issue but it comes from the immense Gs encountered not to mention tight conditions in real world race cars. Look inside an Indy car cockpit sometime, you will see that if you are decelerating hard you will be in tight quarters to also pull something back, not to mention the Gs working against your arm wouldn't help at all. Certainly you could do it and overcome the space and G forces but you know every little bit of help counts.

http://www.allenmotorsports.com/images/cars/dsr_cockpit.jpg
 

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