Need help with downshifting :(

  • Thread starter Thread starter LFAlltheway
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red ice
Keep on practicing on Time Trials using Manual. AFter sometime, You'll get the feel and reflex when racing against opponents online or AI.
My usual problems with MT is over-reving 2nd gear. I lose a couple of seconds coz of that.
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Haha, honestly I havent found any problems with over-revving. Its just that I cant time the braking downshifting properly before entering a corner, which slows me down quite a few seconds...
 
I fail the 2nd gear over-rev when driving 600BHP ++ supercars. :)
 
Ideally, you should start accelerating back as soon as you hit the apex of the corner.
 
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but if we do as we normally do when we drive in real life, driving becomes easier to play with manual transmission, right? while it is reduced, we caught! but the game is not a real life.
 
Razakproject
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but if we do as we normally do when we drive in real life, driving becomes easier to play with manual transmission, right? while it is reduced, we caught! but the game is not a real life
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I believe what you're saying is driving MT in real life is easier than driving MT in a game. Right? :D
 
For me i know most tracks pretty well and i know what gear i will be in for most corners so when I am braking I shift all the way down to that gear right before I stop braking. also using old school setup, A is go, B is brake, L2 & R2 are shift
 
Rayray625
I think he means "Blipping" as in giving the throttle a poke 👍
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Sorry for the wrong wording. I hate the voice typing program I have, still trying to get it to work right.
 
PureLogic
I believe what you're saying is driving MT in real life is easier than driving MT in a game. Right? :D
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It may be easier than real life but it's the same form.
 
To maximize the braking power of the car, you want to keep the revs as high as possible as that way the engine is helping to slow you down. You'll learn how low to let it drop in each gear so that when you shift it will go up to nearly max RPM. In most cases the gears tend to be about equal so it's about the same RPM each time you shift, but it may vary depending on how customized your gears are.

You also will want to drop a little lower when shifting into second and ESPECIALLY if dropping all the way to first as the lower gears will tend to make the drive wheels want to lock up if you shift into too high an rpm. Lifting off the brake a tiny bit just as you shift helps too. Blipping the throttle yourself, even with the DS3, seems to help as well, the auto-blip isn't quite right. If you use the stick for gas/brake I guess you can't, but it works with the triggers. You'd like to have the it at the RPM that it will go to in that gear before the shift finishes. If the drive wheels lock, give it a bit of gas.
 
I'm not sure if this helps, but for me, best braking occurs when I keep the engine in the upper portion of the powerband (don't kick the limiter though), and ease onto the brake as I go around the corner. Its pretty much just practice and try to emulate the shifting of automatic until you get comfortable with it. Then just look at all the suggestion presented, practice and find your own groove amongst the suggestions and your own experience.
 
True racing drivers don't brake as they're turning.

Technically if you are braking and steering, you're doing it wrong.

All braking should occur prior to the turn.
(Obviously there are times when it's unavoidable such as a 3rd gear left leading in to a 2nd gear right, or a tightening corner).
 
Mubble
True racing drivers don't brake as they're turning.

Technically if you are braking and steering, you're doing it wrong.

All braking should occur prior to the turn.
(Obviously there are times when it's unavoidable such as a 3rd gear left leading in to a 2nd gear right, or a tightening corner).
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Really? I've seen plenty of racers do it by choice and take the checkered. I know braking before the corner is the more traditional style of taking a corner, but I've never heard of trail braking be a hindrance as long as you had the know how to keep it going. Now I may not necessarily have that know how, but I have seen racers trail brake and defeat their opponents.
 
Mubble
True racing drivers don't brake as they're turning.

Technically if you are braking and steering, you're doing it wrong.

All braking should occur prior to the turn.
(Obviously there are times when it's unavoidable such as a 3rd gear left leading in to a 2nd gear right, or a tightening corner).
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Trail Braking. Look it up.
 
I hope I can get this readable.. One hint for knowing when to down shift:

When you're revved out (at the redline) a gear fully, and you shift up, check what RPM you're at after you've shifted. Next time you break, when you get BELLOW that RPM it's probably time to down shift.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. But with all the different cars I drive, I find that this is a good way to quickly learn when it's time to down shift...
 
I reckon that you can manually downshift quicker than AT for a given car = helps with later braking.

There's another advantage that no one seems to have mentioned (or I didn't notice as I scanned the thread), not strictly how to downshift but is related:

You can go through a corner in a higher gear, eg 3rd instead of 2nd. I find this useful if the you're close to the change limit, so if AT would drop you into 2nd and you powered out of the corner it would change almost immediately. With MT you can actually stay in 3rd and possibly save time by not changing gear (or bouncing the rev limiter).

This can help with powerful cars to prevent loss of traction out of the bend or on dodgy bits of track as the torque of the higher gear is less than than that of the lower gear. In the majority of cars and courses I'll never drop into 1st, where as AT might on a hairpin for example. You can also short change up to gain grip.

MT takes quite a bit of getting used to, but once mastered you barely even notice you're doing it and it does give you that extra involvement and more control.
 
MT has an advantage over AT after you "master" the shifting.
One small example:
Take a maxxed Cappucino RM to a Track of your choice and set a Time with AT. Then change to MT and don´t shift at Redline (shift at 7.000rpm ?? don´t know the right powercurve maximum) => you´ll be smoking your AT-Time ;)

You can prevent Wheelspin by shifting early and and while downshifting you can use the Engine-brake (so you could brake a bit later).

If you have problems with "finding" the correct gear for the Turns look at your AT laps and you will have a little hint which gear to use => you can adapt to that while using MT

@Xstioph: yes I think your right because I do it that way (not always but it´s a good way to learn when to shift down).
 
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