Can I drive faster if I use manual transmission?

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delgadgo

delgadgo

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delgadgo
Dear all

After some couple of months playing offline with all aids on & auto transmission on a DS3 I suceeded to get all stars. Offline game is over for me except maybe some crappy cone missions.

I though I was quite a pro after my experience offline, but when going online, I notice almost everybody is faster than me. Most of the faster guys are using wheels & manual transmission. Wheel is not posible for me, but I was wondering about the transmission.

My question for those of you more experienced guys is: do you achieve faster times on manual transmission?

Thanks, I just want to check before I change as it doesn’t seem very easy with the DS3.
 
Yes, I'm faster with Manual.

And when I use DS3 I use x and square for downshift and upshift - throttle and brake are on the triggers.
 
Yes, you(the driver) can keep the RPM in the max power/torque curve. Not shifting at the beginning of Red Line every gear. (Not always the best place to shift.)

I can explain in more detail if needed.
 
delgadgo
Dear all

After some couple of months playing offline with all aids on & auto transmission on a DS3 I suceeded to get all stars. Offline game is over for me except maybe some crappy cone missions.

I though I was quite a pro after my experience offline, but when going online, I notice almost everybody is faster than me. Most of the faster guys are using wheels & manual transmission. Wheel is not posible for me, but I was wondering about the transmission.

My question for those of you more experienced guys is: do you achieve faster times on manual transmission?

Thanks, I just want to check before I change as it doesn’t seem very easy with the DS3.
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In GT5, I was wondering the same thing and when I started practicing with MT, I was slower, but I was feeling the car better in control. After a couple of days and a ton of distance practicing with the Ferrari F2007, I was almost 2-3 seconds faster with the MT. It's all about practice and patience here. If you start with a normal road car (like a simple Honda S2000), you will be able to feel the difference immediately. If you want my advice, change your controller setup and try: right stick for throttle/brake, left stick for steering and R2/L2 for upshift/downshift. Trust yourself & you'll do it ;)
 
You are faster with manual, and it also can help you control the car when running without driving aids.
 
jontikis
In GT5, I was wondering the same thing and when I started practicing with MT, I was slower, but I was feeling the car better in control. After a couple of days and a ton of distance practicing with the Ferrari F2007, I was almost 2-3 seconds faster with the MT. It's all about practice and patience here. If you start with a normal road car (like a simple Honda S2000), you will be able to feel the difference immediately. If you want my advice, change your controller setup and try: right stick for throttle/brake, left stick for steering and R2/L2 for upshift/downshift. Trust yourself & you'll do it ;)
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Agreed. I'm an auto user and I strongly believe I would be faster using a manual, but I don't have the time to train myself because @jontikis is right. Like everything else it would take some practice. Not saying that auto users can't be fast, there is just a huge advantage in controlling the gears, RPM, and feel of the car. One day (more like weeks because I'm a slow learner) I will make the switch.
 
Thanks for your replies

So it will start with the manual...the sooner the better!

i am using the triggers for throttle & brakes, so I will take @iainoflo85 advise and use x & square for shifting

I will let you know if and how much my times improve!
 
You will go a lot faster and have much better control of the car; i find that this is because automatic doesn't allow you to select a gear to go into a corner, it just kind of downshifts to whatever gear it thinks is right. With some higher horsepower cars, if it selects too low a gear for you and you end up in the high RPM range, this could lead to spin outs and loss of control.
 
So here is my feedback:

I have been driving some hours on manual these last few days with generally low or medium power cars (up to 550 pp). All aids off except ABS and driving line.

First thing I had to do after the first laps was to switch the controls, and set up x for upshift and square for downshift. After having used x for throttle and square for brakes in the past I was mixing up and downshift.

After that, things went quite fast.

Today my times start to be faster than with automatic. But more importantly, my driving style has changed. I am driving smoother, with less drift and more control. I feel the car much better and can push it to its limits

Thank you for your advices. For those of you playing on automatic, I fully recommend to switch to manual!

Next step is to remove driving line!
 
It took me a couple of races to get comfortable when I first started using MT on a DS3 but it was worth the effort as it becomes much easier to control the car especially in and approaching corners.

I switch back to AT sometimes when I'm trying to work out the best lines on a track so that I can concentrate on that aspect then switch back to MT to get the right gears and speeds :)
 
There is just one thing tho'…
You may notice some disadvantage when using Manual Transmission (MT) with clutch (G27).
What i mean is, when you shift-up, you may lose somewhat like half second compared to those who use MT with controller.
i.e.: when u clutch goes like: 2nd-N-3rd, without clutch 2nd-3rd.
well, or am i just no fast enough with the feet.
either way, this is my experience.
 
JBranco
There is just one thing tho'…
You may notice some disadvantage when using Manual Transmission (MT) with clutch (G27).
What i mean is, when you shift-up, you may lose somewhat like half second compared to those who use MT with controller.
i.e.: when u clutch goes like: 2nd-N-3rd, without clutch 2nd-3rd.
well, or am i just no fast enough with the feet.
either way, this is my experience.
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Do you use the H pattern or sequential?
 
JBranco
There is just one thing tho'…
You may notice some disadvantage when using Manual Transmission (MT) with clutch (G27).
What i mean is, when you shift-up, you may lose somewhat like half second compared to those who use MT with controller.
i.e.: when u clutch goes like: 2nd-N-3rd, without clutch 2nd-3rd.
well, or am i just no fast enough with the feet.
either way, this is my experience.
Click to expand...
One thing you can do is using the paddles to make the first gearshift. After you've done that you can change gear without clutch with just moving the stick to the desired gear. But if you use the clutch, you will have to change gear with the paddles one more time to be able to go clutchless again. I hope I've written it in a way that makes sense:)
 
Manual is especially good on supercharged cars. 2002 Dodge Viper pretty much dies past 6000rpm yet the auto shift changes at about 7000 when fully tuned.
 
Well it seems everyone think manual is faster than automatic....Hmmm it depends....I use a Sixaxis controller and MANUAL gear shifting, but it`s because I`m used to it...I think I`m faster with manual, at least in slower cars....BUT I have to say this:

Back in GT5 days there were some Formula1 Championships; in the game (offline), and also Seasonals..And yes, Cote D´Azur was one of the tracks...On Azur I had to give up on manual shifting, I simply didn`t manage to downshift 7 gears, brake and steer at the same time. In other words, on an extremely technical course in an extremely fast Formula car with 7 gears, automatic was nessecary for me...OK that was GT5, there have been none Formula1 races on Cote d`Azur in GT6 so far, but I still think I would need automatic if it comes to that...

And in the Red Bull X vacuumcleaner cars, I use automatic too, on all tracks I think, again because of the difficulty in downshifting so many gears so rapidly. All other cars I use manual, and it`s not a problem.

But does manual shifting in general make You faster than automatic??? hmmm not really I guess. The reason I use it, is simply because I can, and it`s funnier. Or You could look at WhoosierGirl, she is extremely fast and she uses automatic gear.

Oh one more thing. When I started to use manual gears back in the GT5 Prologue days, I thought to myself that it probably would give me an edge, so when I changed back to automatic, I would suddenly have a "free space" in my brain (really??:odd:), so that I would be faster, now I didn`t have to focus on the gears...But I have never really tried that theory out...I mean make some hot laps with manual, then change to automatic....That was the plan, but for some reason I proved too lazy to try that out...

The only thing I know for sure is that for me Formula 1 on Azur takes automatic....Oh and Red Bull X on all tracks....:dunce:
 
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light driver
Back in GT5 days there were some Formula1 Championships; in the game (offline), and also Seasonals..And yes, Cote D´Azur was one of the tracks...On Azur I had to give up on manual shifting, I simply didn`t manage to downshift 7 gears, brake and steer at the same time. In other words, on an extremely technical course in an extremely fast Formula car with 7 gears, automatic was nessecary for me...OK that was GT5, there have been none Formula1 races on Cote d`Azur in GT6 so far, but I still think I would need automatic if it comes to that...

The only thing I know for sure is that for me Formula 1 on Azur takes automatic....Oh and Red Bull X on all tracks....:dunce:
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One of my friends had the same problem but for the life of me I couldn't see why. I've been using manual for 5 years now, though. When you get used to it, even in a Red Bull you don't even think about shifting, you just do it.
 
Flash_Sweden
One thing you can do is using the paddles to make the first gearshift. After you've done that you can change gear without clutch with just moving the stick to the desired gear. But if you use the clutch, you will have to change gear with the paddles one more time to be able to go clutchless again. I hope I've written it in a way that makes sense:)
Click to expand...

I knew that.
Also i could use the quick shift triggers…
But i bought the G27 because of the clutch :) that's why in many standard cars i use Six-Speed-Transmisson other than Fully Customizable Transmission, so i can use the clutch.
Thanks anyways! 👍:)
 
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