H-Shifter + Pedal "Lock" Combo

My dream is build a rig in which almost all the parts have been built by me.
So far I have finished the motion simulator and a sequential shifter. The next step is either the pedals or an h-shifter.
Current games do not simulate the clutch very well. It is more a matter of personal pride as to whether you correctly use the clutch or not.
This got me thinking about a mechanical way in which clutch realism could be improved. Since I plan to build my own pedal set, it should be easy to determine exactly how far the clutch pedal has been pressed. From this, a locking system could be made on the h-shifter so that you cannot physically shift into or out of gears when the clutch is not in. I understand that this is not 100% accurate but nevertheless it should add to the realism factor. Has anyone ever tried something like this and if so, how did you do it and how did it turn out?

I've actually been working on something similar. I'm still saving up for materials to actually build the pedals/shifter (that and my motion sim is still not quite as polished as I want it), but I'm glad someone else is thinking along the same lines! I was planning on doing something like taking the output voltage from the clutch pedal sensor, and feeding it into a comparator inside the shifter with an adjustable reference on the other pin. If the sensed voltage tells the shifter that the clutch isn't pressed down enough, a fast servo/solenoid coil/some other fast actuator mechanism would block the path of the shifter from going in to the gates. I do wish that the sim devs would spend just a bit more time developing a better clutch model though, standing starts without wheelspin on the sim always feel super jerky.

That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking and I really think that devs do need to put much more work in on the clutch side of things. Assetto Corsa is the best at the moment but it is still not great. I don't know if I will ever get around to doing this because of a general lack of money(I don't see the point in building my own pedals unless the brake is at least hydraulic and includes a good load cell = expensive, especially where I live. )

A Brake pedal will have either a Load cell, or a hydraulic pressure sensor, not both.

Also Load cells are Not expensive at all. 20-30$ for a decent one pending the #'s your after.

I also looked into this a long time ago when I had a static Sim. I'm a bit of a Euro Truck Simulator nut and wanted a way to use a splitter knob for the gearing, but not able to use it until in 5th gear (heading for 6th).

I used a Rotary encoder (you could likely use any old POT) on the clutch pedal into a Teensy++ to match the clutch travel to a solenoid. If the clutch was only 1/3 down, the solenoid was only a 1/3 of the way in.
I followed advice for Flight sims from this page:- http://www.jimspage.co.nz/encoders2.htm which then led to the Solenoid idea for a clutch...

I never got it working well enough to be of any use, mainly because I didn't understand how to get data from the game at the time and my G27 was still new enough that I didn't want take it apart and "fiddle".

The actual turning of the rotary to control a solenoid is the easy part

My knowledge of hydraulics is very limited as you can see . Also, I was referring to the hydraulics when I said it would be expensive

A basic Hydro brake cylinder and Pressure sensor are A LOT cheaper than you think they are. lol Ebay is your friend.

Thank you