The shift point question is a good one, and one to which there's no good GT3 answer. Technically, optimum shift points would vary by car and would be calculated based on the torque/hp graphs and gear ratios. However, those are nearly worthless in GT3 (...or are they even IN GT3?).
Your best bet is to run most cars up to just below the rev limiter (typically, around 500 rpm above the redline)
There
are no hp/torque graphs in GT3 
which means the only accurate place to gauge this information is by going into the garage with the appropriate parts installed. Then, when you click on "spec info" (or whatever it's called) it will finally give us torque/hp info with the appropriate max rpm. This is the ONLY place you can get it.
Still there are no charts...GT1 and GT2 had the best charts...the ones in GT4 are half-baked since the chart & numbers are there but the numbers grid is absent. How much power am i making at 2,500 rpms??? In earlier games you could look at the chart, look at where the grid fell, then go..oh.."okay, i'm making about 130 hp" or whatever. In gT4 the line is there, but since there's no grid, you can only make a guesstimate at how much power is being shown.
Duke
That's amazing. After just a couple of tries, I beat it by more than .5 seconds. And this is after wasting
way too much time with laps 2 seconds over (or just crasing due to overdriving, trying to make up lost time.)
I was just about to come back and ask about the weird rev limiter on the car. In first gear the shift light comes on at 20 mph, but the car still accelerates up to 49. And in second the light comes on at 40, but it doesn't top out until 79. I always heard that you should accelerate to the redline in each gear, so I was gonna ask if I should shift out of second gear earlier or later. Turns out the answer is "to hell with second gear."
I wonder if there are other cases when I downshifted too much, too soon. I'm thinking about that Falcon XR8 that was giving me fits just recently. It's got torque, right? It should pull OK in third gear.
So i guess my lesson is, keeping the tach near redline is optimum for acceleration, but not always best for handling. (I'm a slow learner, but I get there eventually.)
It depends on the car's engine. For instance, say you have an Acura Integra, and say the peak hp is at 7,300 rpms but the redline is at 7,500. In this case (with a manual tranny) it's safe to
push the revs as far into the redline as they'll go without peaking (usually this means shifting at 8,000 to 8,500 rpms). the reason is that when you shift, the revs will now fall a bit below peak torque (usually they'll fall to 6,000 to 6,500 rpms with a stock gearbox). Then you can push those revs again in the next gear.
Remember this: <after peak horsepower is met, there are usually a few hundred to a thousand revs of useful rpms left before you need to shift up>
Now in a car like the Skyline, BMW 328 ci, or many American muscle cars, peak power can be up to 1,000 to 2,000 rpms before the redline. Depending on how short your gears are and how deep the torque, you should be shifting
before redline in some cases, otherwise you'll be hitting some rpms that are less than useful. **i am convinced that the reason many ai muscle cars in gT2 and GT4 are so sucky is cuz they go all the way to redline and dont shift early enough!**
In any case (as you have observed, Bulldozer) it's important to pay attention to your car's powerband, even if it means a bit of inconvenience to go all the way back to your garage. I've done plenty of track testing from GT1 on up to GT4 so i know how proper shift points are beneficial. 👍
A good place to observe this is at Midfield or some other track with a long straight. If your peak hp is significantly below redline, you can drive up this straight and visually watch your speed. Now, as you near and pass peak power, the car's speed will
swell a bit. As you get 500...750, then 1,000 rpms past peak power, you'll notice speed isn't building quite as fast. Shift down, and (assuming the car has decent torque_ the speed should be quickening again.
This pattern will repeat again and again till some sort of limit is met (usually aerodynamic airflow will eventually slow your speed to a crawl no matter what gear you're in).
I already said this before but i finally got gold there and then frickin erased my memory card by accident. Ugh.
That's what i never understood about GT2....many cars can get massive power, (like the Jaguar XJ220 and Nissan R390 road car) but there aren't any races in which to utilize it without feeling like a total 🤬.
If so, then by how much? Are we talking hundredths or tenths?
). Would that do?
