How many gears are best?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Veyron Tony
  • 36 comments
  • 2,434 views

How many gears are best 4 U?

  • Constant Velocity

    Votes: 6 9.7%

  • 3 Speed

    Votes: 3 4.8%

  • 4 Speed

    Votes: 1 1.6%

  • 5 Speed

    Votes: 9 14.5%

  • 6 Speed

    Votes: 35 56.5%

  • 7 Speed

    Votes: 23 37.1%
  • Total voters
    62
V

Veyron Tony

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Veyrone Tone
Hello, just finished running a Nissan GTI Road Car and before that an Lambo, and I was wondering, which gears 6 or7 were best.
I seem to get more acceleration out of the 6speed and 3rd is good around short corners, but with the 7 speed, things seem to be looser and not quite right.
So what`s your choose 6speed,or 7speed.

PS. Now before you jump on Veyron Tony for asking this knowing that the Veyron is 7speed, you need all 7 to get the top speed. When I`m just cruising around the "BIG" track (X) warming up or without a draft partner, I`m usually in 6th, and doing 285mph, but when necessary, 7th is there.
 
I prefer 7 or 8 speed transmissions because you have acceleration AND top speed.

With 5 or 6 speeds, you kind of have to sacrifice one for the other. For example, my Lexus IS F RM has an 8-speed. It accelerates like nobody's business because its transmission is the equivalent of a 6-speed geared to like 150 MPH max. But it still hits like 210 MPH, simply because it has more gears in the transmission.

In contrast, my Chaparral 2D accelerates really slow. Because it's geared to go 195 MPH with a 3-speed transmission. It can go 98 MPH in first gear. If you need to get out of a corner quickly, good luck.

So, yeah, I kind of prefer transmissions with lots of gears.
 
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There is no best answer. A car with a hypothetical constant power engine with no RPM limit would be fastest with 1 gear. This question has no simple answer, there are a lot of factors to consider.
 
The simple explanation is:

How "spiked" is the power curve? Anyone who's driven a Suzuki Escudo Pikes Peak, in game, knows that it has the worst power curve in the existence of the world.


It has a mix of turbo lag, and a poor cam system, meaning that it develops next to no power, below 6000 RPM. A car like this, should, IDEALLY, have an outrageous number of gears (10,) just to ensure that the motor stays in its peak range.


However, most rotary cars only really need 5 or 6, because of how smooth their power curve is, they can use power the whole way along the power curve.


The sole purpose of gears, is to keep the car in its "sweet spot." It's different for electric cars, that have the same power, across the entire powerband, from 0 "RPM" to "16,000 RPM," though electric cars don't really have RPM at all.
 
Another question along the same lines is which tracks are better for close ratio and which are better for standard tranny. (Obviously a racing tranny with ratios setup specifically for that track is always best, but racing tranny in street car is wierd and that thing is loud.)

I love switching between the close ratio on short twisty tracks and standard tranny for when there is a long straight to hit a high speed. (Also I generally use automatic for the close ratio and manual for basic transmission.)
 
Well some ppl read the poll question, and some are transmission specialist/scientist... lol
I didn`t realize there was a 8 Speed on GT5 or I would`ve included it, sorry.
 
Exorcet
There is no best answer. A car with a hypothetical constant power engine with no RPM limit would be fastest with 1 gear. This question has no simple answer, there are a lot of factors to consider.
Click to expand...

This.

MrMelancholy15
The simple explanation is:

How "spiked" is the power curve?
Click to expand...

And this.


Enough to ensure a good launch, combined with efficient acceleration to top speed is the simple way of saying it.

Power curve and mechanical grip are the biggest factors in the equation.
 
Depends on the car.

But mostly 6 speed I guess.
Very often when I drive a 5 speed car I try to change to 6th with mt G25.
And then nothing happens :D.
 
elric718
Another question along the same lines is which tracks are better for close ratio and which are better for standard tranny. (Obviously a racing tranny with ratios setup specifically for that track is always best, but racing tranny in street car is wierd and that thing is loud.)

I love switching between the close ratio on short twisty tracks and standard tranny for when there is a long straight to hit a high speed. (Also I generally use automatic for the close ratio and manual for basic transmission.)
Click to expand...
Close ratio gearboxes in GT5 are useless without the ability to change the final gear ratio. They have stupidly short first gears, meaning that the first 2-3 gears depending on engine power can't be used because of wheel spin. This also means excessively low top speed for most uses, especially when the car is tuned.

Most racing close ratio gearboxes in real life have quite long first gears.

By the way, most muscle cars in the game would be fine for track usage with their stock 4 gears if there was a way to tune their final gear to a ratio of 2.5 to 3.0.

PD should implement such a tuning part in GT6.
 
hmm... it depends on a lot of factors like the torque curve/how much torque an engine produces. If you have lots of torque and and broad powerband, you can get away with 5 gears; the dodge viper comes to mind (the 6th gear is an overdrive gear for fuel economy purposes). If you have too many gears, you may find yourself having trouble trying to find the right gear to use in a corner or simply spending too much time shifting. Though it seems like 6 or 7 seems to be a good number.
 
7 gears is better because how rarely you see a twin clutch 6 speed gearbox.the new gtr maybe but most super cars today have 7 gears and two clutches because they want the gears to be smooth and fast in the same time.so the gears is much smoother and it less jerky and the car bog down less and for speed,you need 7 gears to get a 300+ mph type of top speed.it helps a lot
 
Depends on the use you'll give it, if you're using a car for drag, the most gears, the better (8 would do ok) because you can accelerate fast, and get a nice top speed, without losing too much RPMs.

However, less gears, (6 are nice) would be better if you're driving on a curvy road.
 
Seven speed with the bottom gear stretched as long as possible 6th lengthened a touch and the others, 2-5, spread evenly in the gap.

BUT som engines just don't need 7 and some need 8. It depends on the power and torque curves.
 
I use a manual, so I find 7 a bit many because you have to change so many times, 6 is fine, but I prefer 5 as I think it's enough, and it lets you just go from low(ish) revs all the way through the rev range
 
Gejabo
Depends on the car.

But mostly 6 speed I guess.
Very often when I drive a 5 speed car I try to change to 6th with mt G25.
And then nothing happens :D.
Click to expand...

I have a DFGT and even this happens to me.
 
There's no such thing as "the best" when it comes to gearing.

The transmission is there to get as much out of the engine as possible.
If your car got an engine with a wide powerband, you don't need that many gears to get the engine to work where you get the most average bhp from the engine to the wheels.
That would be a high volume engine, or an engine with a turbo/supercharger.

On the other hand, you have the F1 cars, or the high end NA engnines, seen in an M3 (343 bhp from a 3,2 liter enigne), or a Ferrari 458 (560 bhp from a 4,5 liter enigne). When power can't be produced at the lower rpm's (As in the turbo/big volume engines), you need rews to make the engine produce bhp's from the much lower tourqe.
This will make the powerband more pointy, and therefore you need to change gears more often to let the engine work where the most bhp's are produced.
You can see pointy powerbands in turbo cars as well, but this is generally speaking.


So there's no right answer to your question.
Then you, as an individual can prefere a sertain type of gears, and a sertain type of engine. I prefere the engines that produce the power from high revs rather than from a ton of tourqe at the lower revs.
A car that produce a lot of tourqe are in most cases the better option when it comes to service bills and reliability. I.e trucks/lorrys/huge machines are often powred by huge diesel engines with a lot of tourqe. Hence why many diesel cars can go very far for a low cost.
On the other hand, you got the race cars, and high reving enignes.
The maintenance bill is much higher, and the cars can't go near as long as the diesel one (again, in general). But I just love the high reving sound..

As a fun fact:
An F1 engine produce around 250-300 Nm of tourqe. And that's about the same as an ordinary family car. It's the engines ability to rev high that transform the low tourqe to a lot of Bhp's.
Revs*Tourqe=Power (Simple version)

A Truck engine produce around 2500-3000 Nm of tourqe. And that's about 10 times more than in an ordinary family car. It's the insane amount of tourqe that helps the engine to produce around 500 bhp, dispite to low rpm's it's using. Somewhere between 1000-2300 rpms.

This last "fun facts" section is not 100% related to the OP's question, but as a side note to what I tryed to explain, I think it says something, as long as my grammar allow you guys to understand what I'm on about. Sorry if it's not good enough.. :scared: ;)

:cheers:
 
PureHeavyMetal
I prefer 7 or 8 speed transmissions because you have acceleration AND top speed.

With 5 or 6 speeds, you kind of have to sacrifice one for the other. For example, my Lexus IS F RM has an 8-speed. It accelerates like nobody's business because its transmission is the equivalent of a 6-speed geared to like 150 MPH max. But it still hits like 210 MPH, simply because it has more gears in the transmission.

In contrast, my Chaparral 2D accelerates really slow. Because it's geared to go 195 MPH with a 3-speed transmission. It can go 98 MPH in first gear. If you need to get out of a corner quickly, good luck.

So, yeah, I kind of prefer transmissions with lots of gears.
Click to expand...

This. So much this^^^

lldantell
,you need 7 gears to get a 300+ mph type of top speed.it helps a lot
Click to expand...

What kind of car (X1 isn't a car) are you driving that's gonna pull 300+MPH?
 
A higher number is always more optimal (in GT5) because you can stay on the powerband more of the time, whilst being able to have your top gear go to the top speed you want. Also, Since GT5 rarely simulates shifting time accurately (perceiving that nearly all cars shift like F1 cars) you would not have any disadvantages from time spent switching gears.

In the real world though, it would need to be proportionate to the car; An F1 car would need 7 gears due to the peaky power curve and being able to shift without speed/power loss, but something like a Mustang would be good with 4/5 long gears since most of the power is available for a large amount of the rev range, and would lose power and speed by shifting through 6/7 shorter gears.

CVT, or Constant Velocity Transmission cars, however, would be the most optimal type; you are constantly on the peak power, you dont need to shift, and the top speed is limited by how fast the engine+aerodynamics allow.

If only GT5 had a CVT car that would be competitive with sports cars...
 
5-6 speed works in most cars.
Even though you only use 3-4 of those.

And whoever said that more gears for drag racing is better should look at what actual drag cars run.
The fast cars always have automatics with only a few gears.
Top Fuel cars are single speed.
 
Machate-man
CVT, or Constant Velocity Transmission cars, however, would be the most optimal type; you are constantly on the peak power, you dont need to shift, and the top speed is limited by how fast the engine+aerodynamics allow.

If only GT5 had a CVT car that would be competitive with sports cars...
Click to expand...


Do you happen to know off hand which cars on GT5 have CVT? I believe there is 1 Subaru but once you put the full racing transmission in them it loses that correct? I'm just curious if you know! Thanks!
 
I tend to like cars with 6-7-8 Speed Gearboxes. As they provide both Acceleration and Top Speed. Such as my 'Lexus IS F RM '07'. It will Accelerate quickly in first 7 gears, and will cruise to over 200mph in 8th. If you change 8th Gear Ratio so it's fairly low, like I did, you can get a good 225mph out of it.

But, in real life, I tend to buy 6 Speed Diesels. Like VW Golfs! :cool:
 
jgancherjr
Do you happen to know off hand which cars on GT5 have CVT? I believe there is 1 Subaru but once you put the full racing transmission in them it loses that correct? I'm just curious if you know! Thanks!
Click to expand...

It was the standard Mitsubishi iConcept car; you would rev it, and it would stay at constant rpm until you brake or lift.
 
Bopop4
5-6 speed works in most cars.
Even though you only use 3-4 of those..
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Your transmission tuning needs some work, or you're on a tiny track if you're only using 3-4 gears in something with 6..
 

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