illepall I'm a beginner...in LFS!! I've been racing ALL other sims before. I found that the talk about using gears, clutch etc. is just...bullshit!! I can race faster than any guy using the automatic option in other games. Is this the case in LFS as well?? Do you really gain from using manual gear shift in LFS, or is it just 'mumbo jumbo' from the 'tough guys'?illepall

YES!

I gained more than half a second with XFG on BL after some practice, when I switched to manual gearing.

You definately have an advantage with a manual since the auto is not too good in LFS. However, you can use the gear change buttons to change gear manually with auto (I do this).

For tightening corners (i.e. 4th in, 2nd out), it is definately dire.

Every racing sim I've ever played I've been MUCH quicker with manual gears (a second per mile or so. But in racing games on the PS2 which are designed purely and simply to be fun I'm quicker with autos (and my fingers hurt changing gear on a gamepad).

I always use Manual - I love the way you can do WSs when you don't have a clutch!

I use auto but I have tried manual.
You usaully get me on track going down the straight going "humph humph humph" with the revs cos I forget i'm in manual so i'm much better in auto overall.
But from what i've heard manual is better.

? you can shift when its on automatic.. so technically we (well.. i know we dont have automatic) but technically we have tiptronic

Manual means you do it by yourself. Which clearly means you change gear by yourself so yes, you can shift while on manual. Did you mean Automatic.

Quote from nutty boy :

Manual means you do it by yourself. Which clearly means you change gear by yourself so yes, you can shift while on manual. Did you mean Automatic.

What??

LFS is the only racing game I can comfortably use manual gears and the cockpit view. Up until LFS it just felt wrong, but I guess that's partly down to the staggering physics model

wow.. yes nutty; thats twice i've done that today

the roadcars are much more fun to drive with a clutch and manual gears

from auto>manual>flat shifting saved me nigh on a second as SO2 in the FXO, it really does help!

As everyone else has said, i have found it quicker (and easier tbh) to drive with manual gears.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

+1

I'm slower with a clutch pedal, but it's way more fun . I keep meaning to left-foot brake when I'm not downshifting, which would surely be faster, but I always forget...

well it depends. my time with the xf gti on blackwood went from a 1:36 to a 1:33 the day i started using a manual clutch pedal.

i use autoclutch for most of the racecars.

[quote=thisnameistaken]I use autoclutch (and left-foot braking) with paddle shifters for the MRT, FOX, FO8 and BF1, the rest I drive with the clutch pedal and sequential stick. Sometimes I use the clutch and stick on the FOX but the braking zones are so short it seems to lose me more time than in other cars.quote]

i do this but use the act labs shifter not sequential shifter :P with sequential i normaly do about .3 to .5 faster a lap but i prefer to change with the shifter feels soooo much better and more fun

I'm buying it for the clutch pedal

One of the big advantages with manual is that you have no surprises such as the car gearing up or down in a corner when you didn't expect it, unsettling the car. If you do choose to change gear in a corner, you can feed the throttle in after the gearchange nice and smoothly, which is a bit harder in auto when you don't know when the gearchange will come!

I've always found driving games/sims impossible with automatic gears. I need manual so I know how fast I'm going. I know what speed I need for each corner by knowing what gear I take it in and what the engine revs are at.

In addition, in FWD, if you get tapped round the best way to get it back is to cog it down a gear and floor it. You couldn't do that with auto.

Quote from Michael Denham :

One of the big advantages with manual is that you have no surprises such as the car gearing up or down in a corner when you didn't expect it, unsettling the car. If you do choose to change gear in a corner, you can feed the throttle in after the gearchange nice and smoothly, which is a bit harder in auto when you don't know when the gearchange will come!

This is exactly why I switched to manual. I was getting pissed off when the car chose a different gear than I wanted, even though I already switched back to the appropriate gear
LFS is the first racing game (...simulation, sorry ;p) in which I feel most comfortable with a manual gear setting. Then again it was a pure neccesity since the auto gears are quite horrible imo.

I've done an experiment.
I went out and did a lap of Blackwood with XFR auto then manual(first eer time i've used manual properly aswell)

Auto i got 1:28:53
Manual I got 1:27:72.

3 quarters of a second faster in manual and it was the first time i've properly used manual.

Quote from nutty boy :

I've done an experiment.
I went out and did a lap of Blackwood with XFR auto then manual(first eer time i've used manual properly aswell)

Auto i got 1:28:53
Manual I got 1:27:72.

3 quarters of a second faster in manual and it was the first time i've properly used manual.

Lots more to come then.

arent those times off by alot? i thought that the xfr could get around blackwood in 1:15 if i remember correctly how the hell can u be 10 seconds off pace? lol

Quote from Gabkicks :

arent those times off by alot? i thought that the xfr could get around blackwood in 1:15 if i remember correctly how the hell can u be 10 seconds off pace? lol

Give him a break he hasn't been playing long probably. And it takes a fair few miles to master these cars.

I'm a mouser, 13 and crap.
Does that answer your question?

I've been playing S2 for 3 quarters of a year and demo for half a year before that, and no I wasn't a wrecker I was someone who actually raced.