I know this is an old thread but im gonna toss something out there...
One thing that bugs the hell out of me is that when your in the mud, wheelspeed hurts you rather then helps you.
Im an avid offroader, and anytime your in deep mud hammering on the go pedal and keeping your tires spinning hard clears the treads and keeps them biteing, if you try to crawl through jt the tires fill with mud, and basically become slicks.
The only time crawling is better would be like, cutting across the middle of the bog map, where the ground isnt broken yet, then a light touch on the throttle is permissiable so you dont bust through.
One other thing...why cant the auto transmission mode function like a real automatic? There should be no need to come to a full stop for it to downshift.