ok ive calibrated everything and when i go to the ingame screen i go to change to first gear or what ever gear and it doesnt respond but it does on options any help is greatly appreciated

Get on track and press "Shift + G" till you see H shifter in the top left of the screen.

Did you assign all the keys?

what car are you driving? did you also tell lfs to use the shifter? there are three options on the same line, something / sequential / shifter.

cheers