[Torcs-devel] System stability and changing gears in TORCS.

Greetings,

I've been running Torcs-1.3.3 and have had a couple problems. First, when
running my bot at a faster speed than real-time, my bot will sometimes
float straight up, then off to the side of the track and the race will end.
(This issue seems like a bug, but I'm reluctant to say so since I've
modified the TORCS code.) Second, I am having trouble with shifting.

I have noticed this code in other bots:
http://codepad.org/bwc5LY4q

I have tried to copy/paste this into my drive() fuction (from other drivers
code) but all I see is the gear bouncing between 1st and 2nd gear, so I
feel I must be missing something. I didn't understand what the code was
doing so I tried a bunch of variations with _gear and _gearCmd and and even
tried manipulating the clutch. Is there any documentation on how gear
changing is supposed to work?

I have tried upgrading to TORCS-1.3.4 to see if my issue with the bot
leaving the course would be fixed, but it crashes once I select a track
when configuring the race. (It seems to be crashing sometime after the
constructor is called for my bot, but before any other function in that
class.) Is there anything I need to know to move my bot to the newer
version?

Any advice on any of the issues I currently have would be appreciated.

Thank you,
James Ihrig

P.S.

The full code I am currently working with is here:
code.google.com/p/aiproj2012/source/checkout

To speed up the race, I have added the following line to the bottom of
ReOneStep() in raceengine.cpp

    ReInfo->_reTimeMult = 1.0;

I'd also like to note that none of the links in the FAQ seem to be working
right now.