Quote from geeman1 :

Well, I wouldn't call that the easiest thing to do. With LFS' current shift light you know when you are on the best shift always. Even if there are lots of other distractions you know when to shift. Not to mention that not everyone knows when to shift based on the sound.

That is why there are so many T1 wrecks, people are busy looking down at the shift light.

Quote from bbman :

you can tell pretty well when to shift up just from hearing the engine...

i have cought myself doing this also. after about 5-10 laps you get used to the sound of the engine when the indicator shows. but until i get used to it, i always change gear as soon as the gear change indicator shows

Quote from harlen :

Redline is when your car is starting to max out on its revs, its not when to change gear. Most cars peak power is 1500 revs before redline.

Pretty much. Redline pretty much means STAY THE F OUT OF HERE!. You dont always wanna shift exactly 1.5k before redline, but a good time to shift is right after the powerband dies out, but so you can still land back in the powerband.

Youl figure it out more, as you drive the car more.

Quote from garph :

A quickshifter on race cars is basically the same thing!

From my experience sequential shifters in GT cars either have an automated throttle cut or require the driver to lift for shifts, keeping your foot nailed with no cut would be suicidal. Single seaters would be even less likely to manage a genuine flat shift given the fact they normally have much lighter engines. As for flat downshifts (easily got away with and some people even do it deliberately in LFS) I can only say that from what I have gathered with RL GT cars it usually results in shrapnel flying everywhere and a big repair bill.

Now even if there is variety of gearing setups in the field, everyone is accelerating the same because shiftlight always gives you the best way.

Not to mention everyone starts in same milisecond...

btw, there should be splashscreen info at LFS start-up: "This software contains manual gearbox, even in US and A"

Quote from pasibrzuch :

btw, there should be splashscreen info at LFS start-up: "This software contains manual gearbox, even in US and A"

Problem is also our unrealistic free gearing, there just is no such race team that has so many gears available as we have. In big team you have few sets of gears to choose from and few differential ratios, but nothing like freely adjustable gears.

Still there is some places on some tracks where you can't get perfect gearing, there you have to over rev a bit.

IRL you have to also make sure you don't hit rev limiter at wrong place as it can upset car or cause nice under steering situation and lot of action, of course depends car and so, but there is situations where you don't like rev limiter to kick in. This aspect is completely missing in LFS and does not need to be taken into account when setting up gearing.

hi im not shore when to shift but i do it depending on the power of the car .If less power i leavge it to pelt engine up to in the red .I dnt no if this is right its just what i do

Quote from ajp71 :

From my experience sequential shifters in GT cars either have an automated throttle cut or require the driver to lift for shifts, keeping your foot nailed with no cut would be suicidal. Single seaters would be even less likely to manage a genuine flat shift given the fact they normally have much lighter engines. As for flat downshifts (easily got away with and some people even do it deliberately in LFS) I can only say that from what I have gathered with RL GT cars it usually results in shrapnel flying everywhere and a big repair bill.

i.e. its cheap, not realistic, they need to get rid of it! Or enable the option only for cars where the Clutch is assigned an axis.

Really, if you want to know, spend some time at the drag strip.

I found with the non-GTR or formula cars, you want to make your shift before the shift light comes on in 1st, 2nd and sometimes 3rd gears. This improves acceleration off the line. Maybe its just my "human lag" and even though I'm shifting earlier, I'm really shifting closer to the optimum point than if I waited for the shift light, but it is quicker.

Quote from srdsprinter :

I was always under the belief that IRL, the peak power is a few hundred rpm before redline, and you would always rather run past peak power up to redline, such that the higher gear would put you in a more favorable spot in the power-band. Is this wrong?

Yes, it is wrong. You will be slower than shifting at the 'optimum' point on the wheel torque graph, but probably 'feel' quicker because you'll rev higher.

Quote from srdsprinter :

edit - tristan, please read my response your DP1 car post.

I did. I can't say I agree with all your points (brief shakedown doesn't take long, and he still was slow correcting the spin, and still moving his hands on the wheel (a big no no). Maybe he's better than he looks, but to me he looks like he doesn't really know what he's doing.

I know that the exact moment the shift light flashes is theoretically the most optimum shifting point, but for some reason in almost every car I have used to shift a few hundred revs or few tenths of a second earlier in general (of course it depends on several variables). I don't know why, it just feels more natural to me. I think it's more noticeable in cars with turbo, and/or short gearing.

Am I losing time because of this?

Yes, although the amount lost is probably tiny. If anything you should shift slightly after the light has come on to compensate for the speed/rev drop, which I doubt is taken into account.

Yeah, I recall Scawen stating that the optimal shift point is very shortly after the shift light comes on, because it doesn't take speed loss into account.

Edit: Ignore this garbage.

I understand the shift point is calculated and the red light goes on when torque x rpm is higher in next gear then current.
What about the last gear (most cars 6th)? The light is also shining in the last gear. How is this calculated?

Are you sure on that?

Argh, forget it. Was an illusion.

For a reason which is pretty simple I have, since early S2 demo, disabled the shift light completely. I never used it. At all. I just shift by sound. Basically, I found myself always looking for that shift light and it distracted me too much from what's going on the track. Seeing how I'm able to be competitive and usually get pretty close to WR times, I guess my shift pattern's not that bad. It's entirely possible to shift by sound.

And when I'm on a very long straight where I accelerate to the car's top speed, I just look at the speedometer and when the numbers start slowing down, it means I have to shift pretty soon if not immediately. It's been a pretty accurate way to do it without the shift light and having to look for it when I'm in heavy traffic.

Quote from ajp71 :

Single seaters would be even less likely to manage a genuine flat shift given the fact they normally have much lighter engines. .

my first car was a vauxhall HC viva and i always flat shifted when in any sort of hurry as it was only was so underpowered.

first time i heard of it was reading an interview with gilles villeneuve and he used to flat shift his f1 ferrari's both the flat 12 3lt and the v6 1.5 turbo. he also flat shifted his 308 road car

Quote from Nard :

And when I'm on a very long straight where I accelerate to the car's top speed, I just look at the speedometer and when the numbers start slowing down, it means I have to shift pretty soon if not immediately. It's been a pretty accurate way to do it without the shift light and having to look for it when I'm in heavy traffic.

Wait, you want to tell me looking at the speedo and evaluating how quick the numbers change is less distracting than watching if a little red light comes on in the corner of your eye?
I mean, I completely agree that it is perfectly possible just to shift with sound, but that... well maybe I just misunderstood your posting

It's all about the foot-pounds of work per minute

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