The Gear Trick

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boombexus

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The Gear Trick, is just really a way to get tightly spaced gears for greater acceleration.
However, it might not be the best option in all circumstances.

Directions:

  • *Move the "final drive" gear ratio all the way to the right, or highest setting. Usually 5.499.

    *Move the "Auto Gear" setting all the way to the left, or it's lowest setting.

    *Now move the "final drive" back to where you will hit redline on the longest straight of the track you are driving.

You may also adjust the "individual" gears to your liking, but,
Do not, adjust the "Auto Gear" setting after you have completed these steps as it will ruin all the work you have just done.
 
Do all you weekly racers do this ?? Ive NEVER heard of this before, I always thought this related to the wheelie trick thing. I'm going to investigate this a bit further when I get home!!
 
Yep!

But it is just one of many, many (okay, three) gear tricks out there.

As an addendum, I tend to move AutoGear to the right before moving it back to the left, as in some cars the AutoGear is very low and the gear trick can be affected by this.
 
this seems to have worked a treat ! just to get this right, all it does is make the gear changes a lot shorter and generally quicker
 
Kind of, yes.

The game actually stores TWO Final Drive values (open a car in mk's to see this more clearly). The first is the true Final Drive ratio, as in the gear ratio actually fitted to the 'box. The second (near the bottom in mk's) is the Final Drive at which the AutoGear was set - this is why the trick works.

You can end up with a car with exactly the same top speed as before, but it gets there almost whole seconds quicker...
 
I will note that it seems you have to move the AutoSet at least two clicks to get this to work. Over at the Numbers here was quit a scientific discussion about it. It appears that the first move of the AutoSet after setting the FD creates an arbitrary set of gear ratios. The second click repairs this gear set, and if you move it back to the point of your first notch, you will find that it is a different set of ratios than was generated by that first click.

Clear enough?
 
and what if u DONT have gears? is there a way of changing the dif ratio or somthing similar to make ur car rev out less and change gears quicker? autos can be sooo sluggish! :yuck:
 
Ummm, how can you not have gears? You do know they are talking about GranTurismo right?
 
skitz_barbie
and what if u DONT have gears? is there a way of changing the dif ratio or somthing similar to make ur car rev out less and change gears quicker? autos can be sooo sluggish! :yuck:
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I understand your question.
IF you mean you don't have gears showing up in the "Settings" menu, then you need to install a Full-Racing tranny.
IF you mean you drive auto, so you can't manually change gears, then this "tranny trick" will still work for you.
 
I don't see in that thread something I learned yesterday : using L1 and R1 moves 10 time faster than using left and right when you're setting the final drive for the tranny trick. That saves a lot of time.
 
Animal Mother
I don't see in that thread something I learned yesterday : using L1 and R1 moves 10 time faster than using left and right when you're setting the final drive for the tranny trick. That saves a lot of time.
Click to expand...


I'm pretty sure that this is common knowledge.
 
Gears....I wonder if the Audi a4 with the CVT will be in the game, and if it is, how the gear ratio modifier will work with that ....
 
vtec_guy
does the gear trick work in gran turismo 2?
Click to expand...

Unknown.

I've only used it in GT3. Give it a shot and see what you find out and then post it here.

I wonder if it works in GT4. I really haven't experimented in GT4 with any of the full racing trannys as I haven't got too far in the game.

Let's see what we can find out.
 
The gear trick does work in GT4.
I haven't done any real experimentation, as in back to back testing with the Gear trick vs using only the "slider". But I'm getting what feels like respectable performance.
 
Sorry for the late reply, but I just wanted to get in my experiences... I've been doing a version of this ever since I played GT2, and yes, it does work there as well.

I usually move the final drive to a certain spot, then move auto setting over to 1, then move the final drive down to the lowest(numerical) setting possible, usually 2.5 or 2.0. Then adjust where I put the final drive(in the first place) to adjust my maximum speed. Has always worked the best for me, but I've never tried it the way described in the beginning of this thread... I'll give it a try and see if it's better or worse...

And thanks to whoever pointed out the R1 L1 thing, I didn't know that, I had only tried R2 and L2 because that's what it used to be(on GT2 at least, didn't get to play GT3 enough...).
 
im trying to use the gear trick on my vw bora on the 400m drag strip in gt4. I followed the steps that you gave but i didnt understand the last bullet point.
*Now move the "final drive" back to where you will hit redline on the longest straight of the track you are driving.
does this mean the max revs that the car reaches? i dont understand. I know what the red line is but isnt it in the same place no matter what track your on? (so long as you're in the same car)
 
The rpm number of the redline is always the same for a given car. What changes is the length of the longest straight from track to track.

If you're running the car at, say, Grand Valley or Apricot Hill, you'll need a taller final drive to avoid topping out too early on the long straights. But at Monaco, which only has one straight of any length, that final drive would be way too tall and would cost you acceleration all the way around the track, so you should adjust it to be shorter.

That's what they mean.
 
so how do i know what to set it to on the 400m? I think I need to lower the Final Gear because my Bora doesnt max out on the 400m strip. But how much do i lower it by?
 
Try it and see. That's why there are practice and qualifying runs. On the 400m question, there is another issue: depending on exactly where you set the final drive, you may cost a little acceleration but actually save time by avoiding an extra shift. You just have to run it and take notes and see what's fastest.
 
ok thanx, i just tried lowering it and now it accelarates painfully slowly. I dont understand this at all. Is it worth learning for the OLR races or is it usually forbidden?
 
It depends on whether settings are allowed or whether it's a stock or arcade car specified. That varies.

Taller = lower number, better top end, worse acceleration
Shorter = higher number, worse top end, better acceleration

It seems you went the wrong way, since you said the Bora wasn't maxxing out. So you could go with a shorter final drive to get better acceleration. Keep raising the number, say, 0.500 at a time until you hit the rev limiter in 3rd gear right about 400m. Then try fine tuning and see if it gets better. It may help to go shorter than that and shift up to 4th gear; if you do, make it shorter until you hit the redline in 4th at 400m.

What you need is a compromise that gives you the shortest final drive that doesn't cost you top speed for a given track. That's why you have to test repeatedly.
 
👍 That's what we're here for. If you've got any other questions on this or other subjects, please ask 'em. I'd love to see people make more use of this board!
 
Not to bit#!

BUT, this is not a trick.... this is part of standard set up for a car.
All profesional racing uses different gear ratios and final drives depending on the track they are on that week. Example: in F1 the top speeds on Monaco might only be about 155mph but at Indianapolis it is around 220mph, there is often the choice to make on tracks like Indianapolis that has a tight infield but a long straight; do you scarafice acceleration in the corners for top speed on the straights?

IN GT4 this kind of sacrafice can be seen on tracks like "The Ring" or Special Stage 5 etc... Although I played with this a lot in GT3 I have not in GT4 because I found that generally you never want to hit your red line on the straight as you will loose more time than you can gain in the corners (so I really don't have to think too much about my gear set up I know the tracks so I generally get the setting right first try), however I have a theroy that shorter ratios at the Ring may prove to be the way to go.

Just a note :-)
 
JettaZoom
Not to bit#!

BUT, this is not a trick.... this is part of standard set up for a car.
Click to expand...
JettaZoom:

In general, you're correct. Adjusting transmission and FD ratios is SOP in real life. But there's a reason it's called "the Gear Trick" in Gran Turismo circles.

In GT3 and GT4, the "AutoSet" feature recalculates a new set of gear ratios every time you adjust the ratio coverage slider (from close to wide). It does this based on the final drive setting; try it and see how the numbers vary based on where you set the FD before you adjust the slider. However, it does NOT recalculate the individual gear spacings if you adjust the final drive AFTER the AutoSet slider, unless you touch the AutoSet slider again.

So you can exploit this oddity by following the procedure in the first post to fool the ratio calculator. This consistently gives the fastest in game ratio spacing for the racing transmission.
 

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