why does every car seem to have the steering wheel turn exactly 1½ times either direction before hitting the limit?
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@Felthry i don't know why it's that number specifically but there's probably value in having it consistent between cars

@monorail @Felthry apparently there is a wikipedia article on this.

steering ratio is actually pretty different among vehicles, with sports cars usually having the smallest ratio?

@Kyoji @monorail that's just in terms of how tight they can turn though right?
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@Felthry @monorail surprisingly not!

clip from wikipedia:

"The steering ratio is the ratio of the number of degrees of turn of the steering wheel to the number of degrees the wheel(s) turn as a result."

"A higher steering ratio means that the steering wheel is turned more to get the wheels turning, but it will be easier to turn the steering wheel. A lower steering ratio means that the steering wheel is turned less to get the wheels turning, but it will be harder to turn the steering wheel."

@Kyoji @monorail yeah but a higher steering ratio would mean that the car doesn't turn as sharply when the steering wheel is turned the same amount

and every car we've driven, which includes some very different steering ratios, you can only turn the wheel 1½ times before hitting the endstop
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@Felthry @monorail i'm digging in some car forums now and apparently this information is relevant:

"Most common "family cars" around 2.7 to 3.2 turns lock-to-lock, which is about- 972 to 1152 degrees of steering. Sports cars have around 2.5 turns lock-to-lock comparatively."