Number of gears is one thing but I wonder if the overall ratio range is wider, or if the gears are just spaced closer together? I don't have info in front of me but I suspect the extra gears are just for keeping engines in a tighter RPM range within a similar overall range.
What I wish trucks all had is a wider total range. That's what would eliminate the need to order either low or high gears and make the truck good at one thing and not so good at other things.
I imagine in this age of computer controls the factories could safely release such a thing on the public. Most of the clueless public would assume they were always supposed to use all the gears all the time and end up thinking the truck was faulty junk unless the computer makes them use the right ratios and stay out of the wrong ones at the wrong time.
My truck with its add-on extra overdrive (and manual lockup) is like that. When my wife takes the truck anywhere I tell her to just leave all the buttons alone and drive it.
