I've been re-watching a mecha show from the late 90's that I started a long time ago but - for whatever reason - never finished watching. 
The aesthetic of the mecha is very much up my alley; a near-future/modern dayish setting with smaller mecha that have mostly conventional weaponry. The series itself is pretty okay, but nothing to write home about. If nothing else, the main character is as stimulating as tepid bathwater and has the emotional range of a sponge, and there's a lot of political muttering alongside a lot of mystical mumbo-jumbo, so it does get bogged down (there's more than one conversation about grain exports...!) 
Nonetheless, Gasaraki isn't actually too bad, and most of the animation has aged okay, especially for a late-90's TV anime. 
The main reason I bring it up is because it's mecha designs are by the same gentleman who did the majority of designs for VOTOMS and thus directly influenced GEARs. I think the cockpit design for the 'ISHTAR' from Gasaraki is pretty dead-on for the amount of space and general configuration of a GEAR

[img]http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6045/1152/1600/Ishtar_cockpit4.jpg[/img]

There's also this image of a VOTOMs pre-production model, which is about the size I picture GEARs being, if not a little bigger. I know it doesn't quite scan with the weapons as statted, but we can stretch our imaginations. I just picture them being fast, small, mobile and with a range and ease of movement that's virtually equivalent to human, while still being sizable enough.

[img]https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wud-1JACuqQ/V0gz72XSQ6I/AAAAAAAB1S0/DeYVeA0YSXobnfBx4sn_SAyriGvQ5H98ACLcB/s1600/Armored-Trooper-VOTOMS-Scopedog-from-Threezero-1.jpg[/img]

Hopefully that'll help for a bit of immersion!