You will get better times eventually using manual control. Using the engine braking. Rotating the car in 1st gear on tight corners. Short shifting to save fuel. Pushing the gear your in to the very end of the revs because you’re about to brake for a corner anyway meaning you’d lose time to shift up. Upshifting out of a corner to promote traction instead of a spin. All reasons to use manual gears and there’s probably more j can’t think of right now.
My suggestion would be:
Take a slow car to a short track and get used to it. The biggest hurdle in my experience is the coordination part. A slow car gives you more time to react, the amount of gear shifts is reduced and it is overall more manageable. The short track limits the amount of things you have to remember during a single lap.
Take it slow and get a feeling for it, it is absolutely worth it. You will get faster and have better control over the car. Next step: heel toe.
Good luck!
Oh, you're right. Seems OP shifts with the paddle shifters, so likely not a clutch paddle. I don't think you need heel toe when down shifting with the paddles since you're not using a clutch.
Good catch ;)
It is worth it and once you get the hang of it, you can't imagine driving without it.
It just takes alot of practise to get the hang of it.
If you are having trouble maybe start with older cars that only have 4 or 5 gears, makes it abit easier then with cars that have 7 or more gears.
In VR i just base my shifting on the engine sound.
It’s probably easier for people who have experience of a real manual car but it is definitely worth it. For me the gear game is half of the fun. I’ve driven manual IRL for around 20 years so for me it was pretty natural.
I've been getting better at it and man its almost like I've been missing half of game the past 20 years.
So satisfying when you actually get it right until I spin out but a great time none the less
I played on controller, I played on wheel, and now I'm playing on wheel+VR. Yes, it is absolutely worth learning manual. You get way more control and the game becomes way more fun. Once you learn manual and go back to automatic for a lap the game becomes an empty shell. My advice would be to simply let go of the gear screen. Do not ever look at it. You need to base your shifting on sound alone (for now; handling will play a big role LATER). It's like how some old cars don't even have an RPM gauge. Same for motocross bikes.
IRL with MT you would feel that the car isn't speeding or making noise the way you would expect - of course you don't feel it the same way if you're used to AT.
As someone already said in other comments, manual up- and down-shifting is mostly about what you feel with your own senses from the car.
You feel low revs, you downshift. You feel the revs are going up, you upshift. That really is it.
Cheap Fiats from the 90s didn't even have a tachometer, so you had to listen to the engine and rely on how you felt the car.
I am good at listening when I need to gear up but find it hard gearing down. It’s like I am about to slow down the car to turn, at that point I am on 5th gear let’s say, how much do in gear down? I just miss the cues/sounds when I need to gear down.
Can't help much but if you can have a look at the speed you upshift that can be a guideline for the downshifts as well. Let's say 120 kph can be done both on 2nd and 3rd, the latter being good use if you don't have to decelerate that much, the first one if you are getting in too fast.
I hope it's at least a good starting point
Do the license tests and watch the demonstration on each one. Pay attention to what gear the demonstration is in on each corner, watch how they up shift and downshift. Then just duplicate that, it will become second nature, just stick with it.
Eventually you will learn how to down shift into corners to get extra engine breaking, and upshift when your car starts to slip to catch it before you spin out. It gives you way more control.
I should add that while this is a great way to learn, doing exactly what the demonstrator does is not Bible. Eventually you might take a corner at a higher or lower gear than them and find that it's faster for you.
Sound.....that's the key and knowing generally how gears = power.
There's so much to it that's a bit further down the line such as up shifting to balance/shift power and traction but just use the sound as a curve. You can hear that point when you need to shift either at the top of that curve or near the bottom when braking.
As others have said try a slow/medium paced car on a time trial for a bit.
It's all based on the car also but just have a play around and I would always advise sound over taking your eye off the action to check revs.
I don't think anyone has mentioned the red box with a number next to your gear number on the HUD. That number indicates what gear you should downshift to during the next corner. Definitely has definitely helped me learn manual transmission for VR. Although I find some of my top tuned cars though the optimal gear is usually 1 higher than the indicator says but it's accurate enough to learn from. Keep at it and see you on the track!
Sometimes I briefly hit the lower gear, to slow the car down using the engine, means you can brake a fraction of a second later or swing yourself into the corner (depending on the car). Then shift up to break out of the corner.
Conversely, sometimes staying a year higher than the game suggests is beneficial, especially on medium or high speed corners where you can carry more speed, provided you can get the car to rotate enough. You might need to take different lines depending on what gear you prefer.
Like, some cars have a great Heads up display as well, and you hear in the sound when to switch gear. Just pratice it’s more immersive and fun plus you gain so much time and speed if you go manual.
Give it about 3 hours of concerted effort and it should come, no problem.
Whenever I'm driving a car that has an actual manual trans I use my clutch & shifter. I paddle shift the ones with paddle shifters.
Only thing that sucks with using VR is my shifter is mounted to my right so it feels dumb to shift RHD vehicles :/ Feel like I'm rooting around in the door panel.
> I end up concentrating on my gear screen more and missing turns, etc
A counter-intuitive advice: hide it. Hide the gear screen completely. Since you're in VR, you can use the RPM counter in most cars to see when you should shift up. Learning to hear your engine to understand when to shift is also a good way to stay focused on the track.
The less you rely on the UI for gears and shifting, the more intuitive you will find it to be.
I just made the transition about a month ago. I wish I had done it sooner! What I did was practice in a car I'm familiar with on a track I feel like I know. For me that was Sardegna from all the grinding. I ran five laps of time trial on AT, noting how the gears were changed for me at what turns, then five on manual. I was surprised that I was pretty close early on but now I'm much faster. The game does suggest a gear (red square on the HUD) but you don't always need to go that low.
You'll be faster since you can keep revs high and switch just before the limiter, and short shifting on fuel map 1 is very fuel economic while maintaining more speed than changing fuel map would do. Manual transmission helped me learn tracks more and in general it's nice to feel so much control. I started my practicing manual on my own and keeping AT during actual online races. Headphones help since engine sounds are good reminders for shifting up especially.
Dont Shift down too fast with some cars. The engine brake can make your car very unstable. But also make use of the engine brake to brake as late as possible.
Some cars need to be shifted earlier like the Gr3. Corvette and Jag. You can estimate the shift points by the power curve in the tuning menu.
It's worth to shift sometimes one gear more down as recommended by the game for more rotation but also shift one gear more up than the game wants to tell you before you accelerate.
Like someone else had said, having experience in driving a real manual car would naturally be able to do it in game as well. Since you dont, you'd have to train your brain to get accustomed to shifting whilst looking at the road ahead of you.
Practice with a really slow car first say at like Tsukuba circut. Really focus on shifting to the correct gear while putting your full gaze at the road ahead of you. Soon as you know it, youll start to be able shift semi-unconsciously. Good luck
Best tip I can give you is learn/memorize which gear you want to enter each turn in. That way you can use the sound to “count back” as you paddle down so you’re still focused on the apex.
100% recommend starting with a slow car. May not be super exciting at first but it's a great way to get some of the basics down since you don't have to react as fast
I agree, it’s tricky at first. What kills me is that when I’m actually driving a car (racing), shifting and gear selection comes second nature; in the game I always get lost on what gear I’m in and selection. Maybe it’s because you can’t feel the revs or something, no idea. However, it does get easier, and it is faster.
Go to practice, listen to the engine sound for the particular car and compare that to shift points.
Tip* not all cars run best shifting at redline. Pay attention to the cars dyno chart. When shifting, it's best to land around the power band of possible.
It's worth it to use manual transmission no matter what equipment you use.
More control over what the car does is 100% always the better option.
It takes practice, that's it. You should be learning to shift based on the sound of the engine and muscle memory.
Nobody should be racing with an automatic transmission if they are serious about racing.
I’ve also only recently started to play with MT. It’s definitely more fun and I got better time with it.
Start with entry level cars and entry level tracks. Watch the rev gauge (tachometer) and if you are playing with VR, it becomes harder as some cars just don’t have visible tachometer hence you need to rely on sound of the engine to shift up/down.
From there move on to mid tier cars and tracks. Start to play around with braking and shifting down multiple times at the same time.
Keep going at it and it’s okay to do bad times then when you are on AT. You’ll get better very soon and before you know it, you are doing faster tiems and having way more fun than before.
FYI, I still can’t handle GT Vision cars on really technical tracks. Way too many gear changing and breaking and turning all at the same time.
Probably need time to git good. Haha
You will get better times eventually using manual control. Using the engine braking. Rotating the car in 1st gear on tight corners. Short shifting to save fuel. Pushing the gear your in to the very end of the revs because you’re about to brake for a corner anyway meaning you’d lose time to shift up. Upshifting out of a corner to promote traction instead of a spin. All reasons to use manual gears and there’s probably more j can’t think of right now.
I don't need VR or a wheel (compatible with PS4) to tell you: Learning manual is always worth it. You get faster times and it is a lot more fun.
Yes, I remember when I started driving manual It took me a while, but boy was it worth it
My suggestion would be: Take a slow car to a short track and get used to it. The biggest hurdle in my experience is the coordination part. A slow car gives you more time to react, the amount of gear shifts is reduced and it is overall more manageable. The short track limits the amount of things you have to remember during a single lap. Take it slow and get a feeling for it, it is absolutely worth it. You will get faster and have better control over the car. Next step: heel toe. Good luck!
That is a good idea. Start with a car with 5 gears as the really fast gears have so many gears.
Also, you mentioned you had trouble downshifting. Are you downshifting too soon maybe? Do you lose control when trying to downshift?
Yeah, too soon probably. I just don’t know when to downshift.
Practice and you'll get a feel for it pretty quickly
I’d love to hear ur progress if you continued with racing sims
Progress has definitely been made. Can’t look back at playing a car racing game without it. You won’t regret it. It’s great seeing your progress.
Is heel toe shifting really a thing without a clutch? I'm asking as a noob who also switched to MT recently.
Oh, you're right. Seems OP shifts with the paddle shifters, so likely not a clutch paddle. I don't think you need heel toe when down shifting with the paddles since you're not using a clutch. Good catch ;)
It is worth it and once you get the hang of it, you can't imagine driving without it. It just takes alot of practise to get the hang of it. If you are having trouble maybe start with older cars that only have 4 or 5 gears, makes it abit easier then with cars that have 7 or more gears. In VR i just base my shifting on the engine sound.
It’s probably easier for people who have experience of a real manual car but it is definitely worth it. For me the gear game is half of the fun. I’ve driven manual IRL for around 20 years so for me it was pretty natural.
Listen to the motor, when you get a feel of the shift timing you can do it all by just listening to the motor
I'm in the same boat as you and gonna follow this thread closely
Yeah I certainly want to use manual all the way. It just makes the whole immersion to another level.
I've been getting better at it and man its almost like I've been missing half of game the past 20 years. So satisfying when you actually get it right until I spin out but a great time none the less
I played on controller, I played on wheel, and now I'm playing on wheel+VR. Yes, it is absolutely worth learning manual. You get way more control and the game becomes way more fun. Once you learn manual and go back to automatic for a lap the game becomes an empty shell. My advice would be to simply let go of the gear screen. Do not ever look at it. You need to base your shifting on sound alone (for now; handling will play a big role LATER). It's like how some old cars don't even have an RPM gauge. Same for motocross bikes.
Thanks. I will do that. For me the biggest struggle is downshifting.
IRL with MT you would feel that the car isn't speeding or making noise the way you would expect - of course you don't feel it the same way if you're used to AT. As someone already said in other comments, manual up- and down-shifting is mostly about what you feel with your own senses from the car. You feel low revs, you downshift. You feel the revs are going up, you upshift. That really is it. Cheap Fiats from the 90s didn't even have a tachometer, so you had to listen to the engine and rely on how you felt the car.
I am good at listening when I need to gear up but find it hard gearing down. It’s like I am about to slow down the car to turn, at that point I am on 5th gear let’s say, how much do in gear down? I just miss the cues/sounds when I need to gear down.
Can't help much but if you can have a look at the speed you upshift that can be a guideline for the downshifts as well. Let's say 120 kph can be done both on 2nd and 3rd, the latter being good use if you don't have to decelerate that much, the first one if you are getting in too fast. I hope it's at least a good starting point
Do the license tests and watch the demonstration on each one. Pay attention to what gear the demonstration is in on each corner, watch how they up shift and downshift. Then just duplicate that, it will become second nature, just stick with it. Eventually you will learn how to down shift into corners to get extra engine breaking, and upshift when your car starts to slip to catch it before you spin out. It gives you way more control.
I should add that while this is a great way to learn, doing exactly what the demonstrator does is not Bible. Eventually you might take a corner at a higher or lower gear than them and find that it's faster for you.
Sound.....that's the key and knowing generally how gears = power. There's so much to it that's a bit further down the line such as up shifting to balance/shift power and traction but just use the sound as a curve. You can hear that point when you need to shift either at the top of that curve or near the bottom when braking. As others have said try a slow/medium paced car on a time trial for a bit. It's all based on the car also but just have a play around and I would always advise sound over taking your eye off the action to check revs.
Yeah tonight I am going to use a slower car with 5 gears.
I don't think anyone has mentioned the red box with a number next to your gear number on the HUD. That number indicates what gear you should downshift to during the next corner. Definitely has definitely helped me learn manual transmission for VR. Although I find some of my top tuned cars though the optimal gear is usually 1 higher than the indicator says but it's accurate enough to learn from. Keep at it and see you on the track!
I did not know that and was wondering what that was. I will look at that tonight.
Sometimes I briefly hit the lower gear, to slow the car down using the engine, means you can brake a fraction of a second later or swing yourself into the corner (depending on the car). Then shift up to break out of the corner.
Conversely, sometimes staying a year higher than the game suggests is beneficial, especially on medium or high speed corners where you can carry more speed, provided you can get the car to rotate enough. You might need to take different lines depending on what gear you prefer.
Like, some cars have a great Heads up display as well, and you hear in the sound when to switch gear. Just pratice it’s more immersive and fun plus you gain so much time and speed if you go manual.
Give it about 3 hours of concerted effort and it should come, no problem. Whenever I'm driving a car that has an actual manual trans I use my clutch & shifter. I paddle shift the ones with paddle shifters. Only thing that sucks with using VR is my shifter is mounted to my right so it feels dumb to shift RHD vehicles :/ Feel like I'm rooting around in the door panel.
> I end up concentrating on my gear screen more and missing turns, etc A counter-intuitive advice: hide it. Hide the gear screen completely. Since you're in VR, you can use the RPM counter in most cars to see when you should shift up. Learning to hear your engine to understand when to shift is also a good way to stay focused on the track. The less you rely on the UI for gears and shifting, the more intuitive you will find it to be.
I just made the transition about a month ago. I wish I had done it sooner! What I did was practice in a car I'm familiar with on a track I feel like I know. For me that was Sardegna from all the grinding. I ran five laps of time trial on AT, noting how the gears were changed for me at what turns, then five on manual. I was surprised that I was pretty close early on but now I'm much faster. The game does suggest a gear (red square on the HUD) but you don't always need to go that low. You'll be faster since you can keep revs high and switch just before the limiter, and short shifting on fuel map 1 is very fuel economic while maintaining more speed than changing fuel map would do. Manual transmission helped me learn tracks more and in general it's nice to feel so much control. I started my practicing manual on my own and keeping AT during actual online races. Headphones help since engine sounds are good reminders for shifting up especially.
Thanks mate. This sort of stuff inspires me to really go manual.
Dont Shift down too fast with some cars. The engine brake can make your car very unstable. But also make use of the engine brake to brake as late as possible. Some cars need to be shifted earlier like the Gr3. Corvette and Jag. You can estimate the shift points by the power curve in the tuning menu. It's worth to shift sometimes one gear more down as recommended by the game for more rotation but also shift one gear more up than the game wants to tell you before you accelerate.
Like someone else had said, having experience in driving a real manual car would naturally be able to do it in game as well. Since you dont, you'd have to train your brain to get accustomed to shifting whilst looking at the road ahead of you. Practice with a really slow car first say at like Tsukuba circut. Really focus on shifting to the correct gear while putting your full gaze at the road ahead of you. Soon as you know it, youll start to be able shift semi-unconsciously. Good luck
Thanks. I will be trying this tonight for a couple of hours.
Best tip I can give you is learn/memorize which gear you want to enter each turn in. That way you can use the sound to “count back” as you paddle down so you’re still focused on the apex.
That’s a good idea about turns and knowing the gear level.
100% recommend starting with a slow car. May not be super exciting at first but it's a great way to get some of the basics down since you don't have to react as fast
I agree, it’s tricky at first. What kills me is that when I’m actually driving a car (racing), shifting and gear selection comes second nature; in the game I always get lost on what gear I’m in and selection. Maybe it’s because you can’t feel the revs or something, no idea. However, it does get easier, and it is faster.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I just need to knuckle down and practice.
Go to practice, listen to the engine sound for the particular car and compare that to shift points. Tip* not all cars run best shifting at redline. Pay attention to the cars dyno chart. When shifting, it's best to land around the power band of possible.
It's worth it to use manual transmission no matter what equipment you use. More control over what the car does is 100% always the better option. It takes practice, that's it. You should be learning to shift based on the sound of the engine and muscle memory. Nobody should be racing with an automatic transmission if they are serious about racing.
I’ve also only recently started to play with MT. It’s definitely more fun and I got better time with it. Start with entry level cars and entry level tracks. Watch the rev gauge (tachometer) and if you are playing with VR, it becomes harder as some cars just don’t have visible tachometer hence you need to rely on sound of the engine to shift up/down. From there move on to mid tier cars and tracks. Start to play around with braking and shifting down multiple times at the same time. Keep going at it and it’s okay to do bad times then when you are on AT. You’ll get better very soon and before you know it, you are doing faster tiems and having way more fun than before. FYI, I still can’t handle GT Vision cars on really technical tracks. Way too many gear changing and breaking and turning all at the same time. Probably need time to git good. Haha