I got hold of LFS last night and started to take a few of the cars out to get used to them. I have a Logitech G25 and I tried using sequential and the regular shifter, and also with and without the clutch aid.

I spent a little time in the XFGTR and, one thing I noticed was that I seemed to be capable of better splits with manual clutch and gears than the sequential box with auto-clutch. Is this by design (I mean is there built-in performance loss from using the assisted clutch and/or sequential) or was it that I just drove better or more naturally with manual 'box and clutch?

The thing I found, and expected, was that I had more control manually shifting - with the penalty of it also being easier to get it all wrong - but the fact that I could do a relatively easy, in terms of not much braking, section of track quicker this way was a surprise (at least for very early attempts).
I'd like to know because if there is no performance penalty for using various aids then I'll probably try to learn tracks with them on, then move to manual shifting once I'm comfortable. If there is a loss then I'll try to learn in manual as it will just make improvement harder to determine.

Any comments/suggestions appreciated.
Apologies if this is covered in another thread, but searching seemed to get lots of hits for things like traction control, ABS etc.

As far as I know there isn't any "in built" penalty for using auto clutch, but if you can go faster using manual clutch, more power to ya

No difference in whether you use auto clutch or manual or blip or whatever. Personally I use sequential paddles but then I drive the FOX most of the time or the FO8. In these cars you cannot down change quick enough with manual clutch and H shift because of the characteristics of these cars. This means I lose a lot of time in braking areas when using manual config.

In road cars the penalty is not so great as you don't knock off speed so fast in the braking areas. However, I am still faster with sequential paddles and auto clutch than without.

In some motorsport here in the UK if you have a sequential box it is considered a huge advantage and you are moved up a class - a bit like having a turbo.

I think the performance is still very relative at this stage . I can actually lap better with the sequential and auto-clutch because there's less to go wrong, but it feels a bit less like I'm in control. Maybe I can understand why Clarkson hates 'flappy-paddles' now...

I'll go with my plan of learning tracks with the sequential then moving over - thanks for the reply.

If you can shift faster than the auto-clutch shift happens then yes, you get a benefit. This is only really a benefit in the road cars (anything without wings and slicks).

The XFR auto-clutch shift is pretty quick and can't really be done any faster with a clutch pedal, so if you're going quicker using three pedals it's probably because that's how you're used to driving and it's giving you more confidence.

The XFR doesn't have wings though, just slick tyres, so it doesn't brake as fast as the single-seaters or the big GTRs. Using a manual clutch in those cars makes braking trickier when you try to rev-match with manual throttle-blip on every downshift.

I would say manual clutch is definitely slower in the FOX, FO8, BF1 and MRT. It's not much slower in the FXR, XRR and FZR and the added control benefit of having a clutch pedal might make you choose to use it anyway, and it's definitely faster in the UF1, XFG, XRG, XRT, FXO, RB4, LX4, LX6, FZ5 and RA. But - as you already noticed - it's easier to throw that advantage away by making mistakes.

I have the same wheel, I use the H gate all the time. For certain turns ill break good in 4th and down shift into 2nd. For the f1 cars, I think the paddles/sequential is quite necessary.

The one place a manual clutch comes into its own, is in assisting you on powering out of a corner. You can slam the throttle to the floor, and slip the clutch slightly to aid traction if you are having trouble getting power down. I think basically its personal preference. I prefer sequential. But each to their own. There is nothing in game that penalises one setup over another. Its designed for equality, only difference is driver skill.

Ven