Sorry to be a pain, but once we get to say 100ft from an objective the count down changes to Feet from Yards and similar in Metric for those who use such evil :P
The nearest units of measurement between the two systems are the metre and the yard which for common purposes can be seen as equal and are interchangeable. There is no equivalent unit of the foot in metric, the next one down in common use is the centimetre. To keep the two countdown systems close to each other the yard is better as you can use the same techniques with both and easily interchange between the two. They are very similar for decelerating towards a station stop for instance. There’s no real need in TSW to get down to the foot as a unit of measurement for accuracy as everything is measured from the player, so doing it by sight is better for shunting and coupling as it’s never going to count down to zero before you collide. At anything slower than a crawl, feet go past very quickly, so a yard is better for judging speed too. One transition from miles to yards is enough, having two transitions will get messy and confusing, especially when there could be no second transition when using metric. That should cover all the reasons why yards are used and why not to change it.
Actually I would've preferred the way Train Simulator handled it and just use units of 0.01 miles, rather than yards. Made it easier to calculate my speed vs remaining distance. In metric it's less of a problem since converting metres to kilometres is evilishly simple, but TS did use units of 0.01 km, rather than switching to metres, which was fine IMO. I'm already used to what TSW does, but I wouldn't be in favour of adding yet another smaller units of measurement. Especially with the imperial system, although not evil, it is confusing for those evil parts of the world that aren't used to it (which would be the majority of the world, I guess).
TSW certainly has to get better and more granular with distance because on some systems stopping 80cm out of place is a big deal. Having the distance just drop down to 1m is not enough specificity. (Which actually counts for 2 meters because you could be under the stopping point by 1m or over by 1m and the game doesn't differentiate)
More annoying for me is the "as the crow flies" distance marker. I'd much prefer actual track mileage when driving.
With regards the to countdown being measured from the player vs the vehicle collision point, I totally agree this is a major issue. But with some of older folk like me who prefer to use imperial, my suggestion along with a mod for the countdown point would be a massive advantage. If people using metric prefer that system as it is then they wouldn't mind as both are options in game.
You can still use imperial as you do now but the best unit to use is still the yard rather than the foot for the reasons in my post. I use both and don’t want the imperial measurements changing, as both are fine as they are, and as a nice bonus a yard is almost the same as a metre which helps use the same techniques when slowing down etc for those people like me who use whichever is the correct one for the route in question and the ‘automatic’ setting gives you. There is no equivalent of a foot in metric to keep both systems similar enough. As a yard is an imperial measurement you should be happy with it, there is no need for you to use metric.
