Who pays attention to the recommended gear?

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masterrawad

masterrawad

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Ever since yesterday I found out what the red gear number meant. ever since i've been following it ive shaved several seconds off of lap times. so. hae you ever noticed it but never cared much for it, or youv'e noticed it for a while and used it?
 
I generally use it as a guide, even if it is wrong on occasion it's a good starting point when learning a track.
 
I've been using it since GT4, depending on vehicle and circumstance of use e.g. drifting I may ignore it. During races if I find that the red number does help I will stick to it.
 
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it really helped me. in an online race we were driving around tsukuba. on the final turn i payed attention to the gear changer and lowered my speed and gear. literally everyone else went into the sand pit! XD then the host ragequitted. T_T
 
I don't use it, as it usually tell's me to shift 1 to 2 gear's lower than what I'd use. I do glance at it from time to time on generated track's though, to gauge blind corner's.
 
I used to use it all the time to learn the tracks, but once you do an enduro on a track or grind on a track (or just race it a lot because you love the track :)) I find myself paying attention to it less and less.

Still great for learning new tracks though. (Speaking of, I still need to learn Spa...)
 
Low power and racing softs tends to throw off the recommended gear. When the cars tires and power are evened out, it's usuall correct. For the tracks I don't know 100% by heart, I use it. It's always usefull around the Nordschleife, but it's wrong on certain parts depending on the car. I took a slightly tuned 2005 Sti around it on sport mediums and it was almost perfect aside from the faster corners where it didn't think the car would stick even though I only had 340ish hp.
 
It seems fine to use the recommended gear when a car is stock but once a car is tuned i find it suggests gears to low so i dont really use it, i still use it on random generated tracks tho.
 
I keep the display off except for endurance events (for the tire monitor). Engine noise preferred over a flashing or solid red number.
 
I use the red flashy thing to judge the time/distance to the corner, which I otherwise can't properly. Then use the gear indicator as general speed advice unless I have used that car/track combo often.
 
Used it to learn a long time ago. Just turned it off when it was made an option to do so and I don't miss it a bit. I actually feel like I learn the track better without it.
 
Forgetful
Used it to learn a long time ago. Just turned it off when it was made an option to do so and I don't miss it a bit. I actually feel like I learn the track better without it.
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Yeah, because not having it forces you to look for actual points on the track to begin your braking instead of relying on a flashing red light.
 
I used to use it but I've since abandoned it (as it teaches bad habits if you ever want to get into driving professionally) and instead focused on visual indicators for braking and turning points which is more authentic and challenging.

However, it is great to use to help learn a track, but I've driven the tracks so many times that I have a good understanding on where and how to brake in what car regardless.
 
I actually have it turned off as well now, only driving with the lap and time info across the top. I find it has improved concentration as all that useless info is no longer distracting (dials moving and numbers flashing, etc).

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i tend to turn it off if I'm driving a slower car (non race car) or driving a track I'm keen on (laguna seca e.g)

But it's straight to the sand pit if I'm driving a high speed track with a fast car. (la sarthe with a LMP)
 
HippieGiraffe
I actually have it turned off as well now, only driving with the lap and time info across the top. I find it has improved concentration as all that useless info is no longer distracting (dials moving and numbers flashing, etc).

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I wish I could get away with that, but I sit too far away from the TV, and I can't read the gauges in some cars.

Maybe that means I need a bigger TV.....
 
I don't use it at all, I turned it off because I try to stick to "Simulation" as much as possible.
 
FoxHound
You could also just listen to the engine/rpm's? ;)
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Sure, but when you drive a different car every race it's nice to be able to look down to get a sense of what sound is being made at what RPM without having to spend time banging off the rev limiter to figure it out.
 
I use it as a guide for braking point. I brake a second or two after it starts flashing, depending on the car I'm using.
 
I didn't know it could be turned off.

But I'm basically the same as everyone else here, I use it to learn tracks how my particular car of the moment works, and then go from there. I still always observe it (if other people drive from a view with it in view, I couldn't imagine missing it), but I often find by lap three or four, I am going faster than it suggests.

Also it can be off, to those serious racers, since in the nicest vehicle, it has to choose between 8 gears, so if you are exceeding the recommended speed for a turn by 1 mph in a four or five speed, it's going to drop and will be a bit off. Quite a few times I have down shifted in a vehicle to match, and I grind gears when I could have handled it. Also, I have been in low gears and the red suggests higher, ie taking a turn near red line in 3rd and it tells me 4th instead.
 
I'm training myself away from it. Physical break points are just more reliable than the flashing light and it is all too easy to miss it flashing.
 
I turned it off as soon as I could. I found that on most tracks I was quicker although on some of the big stops I overshot the first attempt (Monza turn 1, Spa after the long straight, Le Sarthe at the hairpin after the mulsanne
 
I use it to a point. When I finally learn the speeds I need to go around the turn I just forget about the what gear it says to be and I sometimes us as for when to break if I don't know which points I should break.
 
I use it as a braking marker instead of having to re-learn each braking point for every car as I am not in any one car for very long.
 
I used to learn the tracks back in GT4. I also used it in GT5 to learn tracks, because I find the driving line annoying.
 

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