Sorry for bumping this and for the double post, but I just got an idea.
If you want gear shift animation, it could be done like in TDU (Test Drive Unlimited). There driver puts his hand on the shifter before you even need to shift.
Example: Car has max 7k RPM. When you get to 6, driver puts his hand on shifter and when you press the magical button, he shifts and return his hand to the wheel. And if the RPMs get to let's say 6,5 and fall down to 5k driver gets his hand back to the wheel, no matter that you didn't change the gear.
I hope you understand this.