i wanna know wot is a good time to change gear at wit the XRT for best performance. I normaly rev to about 7,500 and sometimes the full 9,000.

there is a gear calculator for lfs use search please thank you mushy mushy..

I just go by the shift light

In LFS you have a red shift indicator, which lights up at the optimal shift point. The optimal shiftpoint is not just guessed, but actually calculated by the physics engine. It always compares the available power with the one you would have in the next gear, and as soon as the next gear yields more power, the indicator lights up.

It depends on which setup/car you use...

Like 2 setups for the FZR

at setup number 1 the ultimate shiftpoint is at 9000 rpm (from 3th to 4th and 4th to 5th)

at setup number 2 the ultimate shiftpoint is at 8500 rpm (from 3th to 4th and 4th to 5th)

i just always shift up when the red light comes on

Quote from Hyperactive :

I just go by the shift light

Me too.

I shift before the light goes on (after a couple of races you know when that is in that car)

Is it realistic btw? To have a shift light, I mean.

how gears calculator works? i dont get this

Quote from AndroidXP :

In LFS you have a red shift indicator, which lights up at the optimal shift point. The optimal shiftpoint is not just guessed, but actually calculated by the physics engine. It always compares the available power with the one you would have in the next gear, and as soon as the next gear yields more power, the indicator lights up.

nah, the light doesnt show the best point. u have to know / find out by urself (usually looking at the rpm / torque / hp tells it).
the light just shows when its a good point to shift for the actual transmission setting.
try it out if u dont believe me, make a set and make the first gear superlong and u gotta get for almost the rpm limit to get the red light.
XFG max torque at 5416 rpm
max hp at 7033 rpm.
now take partyboys bl wr set (what has a pretty good gearing) and drive.
the red light (shiftlight) will come up at 7400-8000 rpm.
remember max hp at 7033.
so...u rev over alot if u go with the shiftlight, plus when u finally did shift at around 8000 rpm, ur just slightly below 7000 and so again almost on the limit.
now do the right shifting, shift at 7000 and rpm drop to about 5500 in the next gear (max torque at 5416 rpm).
what do u think is better now, shifting with the red light, or shifting depeding on the car stats?

:doh:

Of course it doesn't give you the optimal gearing, you have to use GRC for that. But the question was not about the gearing, it was about the shiftpoint - and the red light always shows the optimal shift point. It doesn't matter if you have a stupid gearing that is totally out of the car's powerband, the red light just tells you that with your current setup you will have a faster accelleration when you shift to the next gear. It was never meant to show the best gearing setup nor did I say that it does that.

The magic light just gives the "relative" best changing point for the setup used. Which is different for each gearing.

if u use my sets u must know im change gears very very early, example :
4 > 5 when have 151kmh
3 > 4 123 kmh
if we talking about my bl1 gears sets

Shifting at the Red Light will give you best performance.

Anyone who shifts at 'peak power' is a fool, and will be slow. Hurrah.
Anyone who thinks that going beyond peak power should be avoided clearly has never looked at a power curve, and I deem them idiots too.

Just shift at the red light for now, and be done with it. If the little red light disappears hopefully it will be replaced by an accurate torque curve so we can calculate shift points ourselves, or even a little built in utility. But PLEASE don't make up stuff like 'it's best to shiftz at teh peak power innit' because it's BS

Just a side note, older VWs (A1/A2 chassis) all had a similar shift light.
Took some time to figure out the 2 modes (economy/sport), but if you
stood on it for the first light, it would eventually turn off then lights again
later. It wasn't meant for performance, but it can be made to do so.
It works off the vacuum from the engine.

LFS on the other hand is relatively perfect. There is no denying it, it lights
up when there's more power in the next gear, which IS when you SHOULD
be shifting.

Quote from Iron :

Is it realistic btw? To have a shift light, I mean.

Shift light is realistic, but the one in LFS is too perfect to be realistic. In real life the shift light lights up at set RPM or something like that. In LFS the light is intelligent and knows what the torque/power is at the next gear.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Anyone who shifts at 'peak power' is a fool, and will be slow. Hurrah.
Anyone who thinks that going beyond peak power clearly has never looked at a power curve, and I deem them idiots too.

Aren't those two statements contradictorary?

Quote from Bob Smith :

Aren't those two statements contradictorary?

he obviously drives like his grandma and shifts before the peak power. Remember, he only has £5 for fuel this week!

is something what im not understand, many times in some situation that light is not shift, ok there is hils-uphils. And about xfg early is better im check in AnalyzeFSpeed hehe but im not sure

Quote from Bob Smith :

Aren't those two statements contradictorary?

Fixed, I missed out three important words, sorry.

And my fuel budget is self limited to £15 because our local Shell garage is closed for refurbishment and I refuse to put any more supermarket fuel in that I absolutely have to...

I do not use the shift light in LFS. I shift by ear. I think that the shift light is too unrealistic for me, because shiftlights like those in LFS do not exist in real life really.

In the XRT (damn i love that car ) i shift at 6500 RPM and it works for me ...unless i get pissed off that the controler button is stuck

Quote from geeman1 :

Shift light is realistic, but the one in LFS is too perfect to be realistic. In real life the shift light lights up at set RPM or something like that. In LFS the light is intelligent and knows what the torque/power is at the next gear.

You can calculate that in real life for each gear on your car and set shift RPM correspondingly for each gear. Just need a data logger or something to measure your acceleration and do a run in each gear and calculate from there to set your shift light...you can do the same, just you have to do the legwork

I always wondered this. On BL1 with the XRT you drive the last corner uphill and just before the end of the climbing the magical shift light© comes on. Should you shift and cut the power for a short time when climbing uphill which I guess is a bad idea, or wait until the top and then shift?