1st gear useless?

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Greece
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bellitsa
Dont know if this has any relevence, but in many races with rolling start u never use 1st gear for the whole race. For instance my gallardo 550 nordschleife has gear settings

1 3.975
2 2.530
3 1.992
4 1.633
5 1.373
6 1.165
final about 2.820 fruitycakes trans setup
could something be done to maximize gears 2 onwards? Would it make a difference? Greater acc and or top speed?
 
First gear is used to get the car up to 20mph without having to floor the throttle. That's all. Engineers do this because they like having cars that are not completely unreasonable to drive.

In a race, you'll want to change your first gear to a more usable range, but some race cars still have a first gear that's set high enough so that it can be driven relatively easily at low speeds. It's just like optimizing the transmission for any other type of driving.
 
I think first gear is only to be used for standing starts, leaving pit road, pulling into the winners circle or loading the car on the trailer. It is useless for road racing.

Same thing in real life. In my Spec Miata, of the five tracks I race on regularly, only one requires a downshift into even 2nd gear for only one corner. 99% of the time the car is using 3rd, 4th and 5th. In GT5, I tune the gear box very similarly - 2nd gear is for really tight turns. I don't even use 1st on Tskubu.
 
It depends, 1st is very useful in old Fiat's and Citroen's. And 4WD drag. It really depends on the car and the tracks and the use. For instance in the 2J, it only has three gears so 1 is very useful.
 
Personally i use all the gears i can. If i have to perform a grid standing start i set the first long enough to jump in the first places , like a drag start....
If i'm doing a time trial then no grid start and i do a 1st gear as long as possible.
1st gear as long as possible ,last gear that reach a given speed for a given track at the max power RPM.
Like this you'll have your gears as close as possible for the track/car you drive and shift /retake will be performed in the best ideal RPM range where the power is.
This is my opinion on gearbox setting in GT5. This work for 90% of the cars. There is some exceptions like powerfull muscle cars with a huge torque ,power mid RPM range, and also cars with 4 or 3 gears only.

><(((((°>°°°°°°°°°°°
 
It depends how high your transmission is set. MOST barely use 1 gear ever, but it depends because if the transmission is set you'll probably be in first a lot. Same goes for small track since they have tight corners where you go real slow around. However yes you could get around all this and make a 6 gear transmission into a 5 gear one with avoiding 1 gear altogether.
 
Ty u all for the input, but was wondering specifically about seasonal races like Nordschleife, where me and from what i have seen 1st gear isnt used. If i go off i just restart anyhow. Longer or shorter 1st?
 
As I understand it you want to extend 1st gear so you can use it as a "second" gear, effectively giving you 7 gears instead of 6 (although with the non-existant 1st gear never used) and allowing you to set the rest of the gears closer without compromising top speed? Shouldn't be much of a problem, I'll make some tests...
 
eran0004
As I understand it you want to extend 1st gear so you can use it as a "second" gear, effectively giving you 7 gears instead of 6 (although with the non-existant 1st gear never used) and allowing you to set the rest of the gears closer without compromising top speed? Shouldn't be much of a problem, I'll make some tests...
Click to expand...

Yes, dont know if there is any logic to that :-D
 
Testing is complete.

I'm not going to share all the details, because they are pretty boring.

However my conclusions are:

1. A tall first gear does not provide any benefits in rolling start races. In standing starts it may provide better acceleration from 0-100 km/h. Short gears are generally beneficial in the range from 100 - 200 km/h, but is a weakness when speeds are coming up to 300 km/h and beyond.

2. In order to maximize top speed, 1st gear does not really matter much, the most important is to focus on the top gear, make it as tall as possible (within reason, obviously) to make most use of the engine's peak power. The gears below top gear should be used to make the transition up to top gear as smooth as possible.

3. To make the best possible use of whatever engine you are using, take a look at the max. power/torque graph. Then adjust the gearbox so the top gear is relatively tall and top speed is at the rpm where the engine performs at its best.
 
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I just got done doing a transmission test and I found something interesting pertaining to 1st gear. Maybe some of you guys could help me with an explanation?
It's a long boring section, but the part that's most interesting is at the bottom of it (Marked "Added to March 1, 2013"). And I'll apologize nowayback for posting a link on your thread, but I figured it was topic related and if anybody can help it's these guys on your thread. If you don't like it, I'll remove it.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=8038113#post8038113
 
First gear is a tool, especially for cars with less than 6 gears and that run at low rpm. A bunch of power in first gear, but it's only useful situationally. On a course where you won't be going very fast spreading first gear wide can help you hit top speed quicker since it has so much power. Better off putting it as tight as you can on long, high speed courses and with high rpm cars tho
 
Ty all , and thanks for the info eran 0004, Lupo, Lionheart

Lionheart just reading ur link, awesome .
 
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In most cars in GT5, the first gear is only a useful tool for starts, and Monaco. Basically, unless it's a small, technical course, or you're driving a NASCAR on a tight track, it's useless.

My tuning tip for first gear is simple: Tune it so that your car is at the optimal point on the power band for throttle application. Where do you get the most grip? (On my BMW ITCC car, it's normally around 800 rpm.) Now, where do you make the most power? (On my BMW, it's around 6000+ rpm; it will be shown beside the amount of horsepower, like this: "256 hp@ 6000 rpm")

Now, how close to your peak horsepower output can you get, without spinning the wheels on the race start? Because my BMW ITCC touring car is a slightly less powerful car, with RWD, I can afford to launch it at approximately 5500-6500 rpm, and I'll almost never get wheelspin, at race starts.

However, it's not only useful at race starts; that same logic I just explained also works for exiting tight, slow corners.

You're welcome. :)
 
you know 1st gear is useless when we tune our cars to start in 2nd off the line :)
 

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