I noticed that with the new patch Z that a great deal of effort has gone into the visual dashboards to make them look really realistic. Mission accomplished!

I, like many others I assume, drive with a Logitech G25. I drive with the driver and wheel model off. (no offense wheel modeler!) The new interiors on the road cars look fantastic. But now with the new dials and interiors the gear indicator looks really out of place.

My request is this. Could we please get the option to turn off the gear indicator? A lot of us have H pattern peripherals which makes the gear indicator redundant for the most part.

I'd like it gone for the cars with sequentials too.

+1

But having a G25 is not the reason... the reason is that it isn´t realistic, the controller doesn´t matter

Quote from Bob Smith :

I'd like it gone for the cars with sequentials too.

Don't those motec data logger dashy thingies normally show which gear is engaged?

Shouldn't a sequential car be the one car to have the current gear displayed? It should be gone from the road cars though IMO

I haven't investigated the gear display functions on the Motec or PI systems yet (it's on my list of things to do, entirely unrelated to LFS), but I know that Racepak and Race Technology systems compare speed and RPM with given gear ratio values (or speed:rpm ratio values in Racepak) to deduce the gear you're in for display/logging purposes. It seems to work quite well, although it can get a bit confused at slow speeds, or whilst blipping the throttle, when the speed doesn't seem to match the rpm for a given gear.

Quote from duke_toaster :

Don't those motec data logger dashy thingies normally show which gear is engaged?

Not all of them by any means, a separate gear display is commonly used because it can be bigger and placed in a different place, often driven by the same system as the dash though.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't have a gear display on a sequential 'box, it is pretty standard stuff and like Tristan said with a wheel speed and rpm sensor already on the car there is no need for any extra sensors to get a gear display.

The kind of display XRR has, is definitely not unrealistic (visually).

Maserati MC12


^similar big one in Gillet Vertigo:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4zL54ow74zk&fmt=18

Ford Focus WRC '07


Aston DBR9 '07 (btw surprisingly minimal display)


In road cars... I think it's one of those things that could stay there even in the sake of realism (instead rather remove F9), when using paddles it would be pain in the ass to guess which gear is on. Maybe if it was smaller on the road car dashes, it wouldn't look so out of place. In the test patch thread Scawen mentioned something that he had just recently created a new dash editor for Eric.

To be blunt, here's my take:

Deleting the gear indicator from the dash is rather silly, since gear indicators are as some here have already stated, standard on racecars with sequential gearboxes.

Deleting from road cars? Good idea as long as you have a G25 or equivalent/better. Street cars with sequentials (from DSG to INVECS II) always have them. So do many autos. No need for such on H pattern synchronized units though.

Conclusion? -infinity for the dedicated racecars. +1 as a user selectable option for those that have the hardware and the desire for better realism.

+1 for roadcars.
-1 for sequentials.

Maybe the option should be:
Interior Gear Indicator (for H-Shifter vehicles): ON/OFF

You can see that in the info tab in the garage, whether it's h-shifter, or sequential, etc.

In most racing cars there isnt a H-shift transmission, its sequential. Gear indicator is more than needed, its crucial when cars are racing u might not remember on which gear you actually are. In XRR it wasnt possible for most of time to see on which gear you are driving, only guesses left . I think that present look of dashboard in XRR is perfect (and I like those headlights too - :]). Other XR and XF cars look is also more realistic and enjoying.
To sum up:
- dont agree that gear indicator should be removed (on/off option better idea)
- leave something like gear indicator in road cars

in a real car you could 'feel' what gear you're in, making the delete for road cars detrimental to people without another means of knowing (like a wheel)

+1 for making it optional in the menu where you can change the color of the dials and such. Speaking of that is it possible to change the color of the indicator to black? That would fix your problem.

My vote: optional for road cars

If removed completely there could be a gear indicator in f9 view for debugging controller issues.

Also setting the colour black is a good idea.

Actually, I rarely look at the gear indicator in sequential cars. If my revs are too low, or I need to slow down for a corner, I shift down. If I'm revving near the shift point, I shift up. It's not hard to hear it, especially considering the sequential cars are much louder than the road cars. It should be there for realism purposes, but it really isn't a necessity to be able to race.

You'd probably be surprised at how little you look at it, even without using a gated shifter

The gauges should all be configurable. Have available what you need (or what you like...), get rid of what you don't. I'd like to get rid of the speedo in all cars for instance. The fact that some are road cars is totally irrelevant - the 'realism' argument is specious and, since the 'car' is not on a road, and the filth aren't going to convict me for failing my MOT then I'm happy to just junk it from my display.

Others might like it, need it, for immersion's sake, so let them have it... Configurability, your flexible friend.