The Toyota shifter is oft compared to a videogame joystick - a sensible comparison. No good game I've played uses up for reverse. The shifter is backwards to me, no matter what backwards convention you can find historically ;o)

 

Exactly! If you put the shifter horizontal up would be forward and down would be backward. So it stands to reason a person would push the shifter in the direction they want to go. Unlike standard automatic shifters.

 

Saw this on another forum, it makes more sense for the shifter:

Make the gear shifting more instinctive. Have a **** you push to go forward, pull to reverse, push down to go to neutral.

 

Personally, I've never had any problem with the shifter. I've driven manual transmissions before, but had only automatics for the past 10 years. Pushing "up" for reverse and "down" for drive is very natural. I never even thought about it.

Having park as a button and not on the shift took some getting used to, though.

 

How is up for reverse and down for forward very natural?

 

Beats the hell out of me, but it is. I've never thought about it once. If they designed it the other way, I'd no doubt say the same thing about up for D and down for R.