The Ultimate Guide - GT Mode tips & tuning examples incl. 'the gear trick'

[TeaKanji]

Hello everyone, I wanted to share something I spent the last month or so working on. Last week I published an hour-long YouTube guide for Gran Turismo 2, detailing various tips and tricks for GT Mode and giving a basic overview of tuning parts and techniques.

I made this guide because there's a lot of valuable info that has been scattered or lost. Many of you may know about Gran Turismo By Numbers, a forum from the early-00's and beyond where many GT2 players gathered to share tuning info and such. Unfortunately the forums have been offline for years and the only way to access them is through the Wayback Machine. Since there's still a decent number of people revisiting this game, I wanted to make a YouTube resource using this info to make it accessible once again.

Also, as far as I'm aware, this is the first time the 'gear trick' has been demonstrated on YouTube in Gran Turismo 2. If you want to skip ahead, check out the Advanced Tuning section.



I hope some of you find it interesting, enjoy!

 

[SU_Tempest]

Amazing guide. Thank you so much for the gear trick as well, I remember reading bits and pieces about something like it in the past. Seeing it in action with video proof to go almost felt like unlocking a memory!

 

[TeaKanji]

Amazing guide. Thank you so much for the gear trick as well, I remember reading bits and pieces about something like it in the past. Seeing it in action with video proof to go almost felt like unlocking a memory!

Glad you found it useful! Yeah, it was the same for me back when I played around GT4-GT5 era, saw a lot of people talking about the trick but never fully understood it until recently.

You can do the trick the same way in GT3. There's only one video I could find that showed 'extremely long gears' using the trick with Auto Setup at max setting. Very low quality, 240p recorded on a handheld camcorder, truly a relic.

 

[MMRivit]

I can't believe I missed this thread. Very nice work there, it's always great to see this game getting the love it deserves and being treated as more than just a piece of nostalgia people revisit and then say "I can't believe I found this realistic years ago ". It's still a legit fun game in 2022 and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[evodon84]

This is fantastic. I just happened to get back into GT2 since I got my Steam Deck and I'm reliving my old memories from my first go-round. Having found this guide is really helping me enjoy my experience much more. Thank you so much for an absolute ton of good tips!
Any chance you could provide your transcript? I've watched it twice through taking notes lol.

 

[TeaKanji]

This is fantastic. I just happened to get back into GT2 since I got my Steam Deck and I'm reliving my old memories from my first go-round. Having found this guide is really helping me enjoy my experience much more. Thank you so much for an absolute ton of good tips!
Any chance you could provide your transcript? I've watched it twice through taking notes lol.

Thank you, glad I could help! Unfortunately I don't have much of a transcript; this was my first big video project and I recorded the clips first, then wrote the captions directly in DaVinci Resolve afterwards to fit what was going on. I was a lot more organized for my Gran Turismo 3 guide and documented everything before I started recording and producing the video.

I might write a handbook for GT2 some day though; I'll post it here when I do. There are a few things I missed or overlooked when making the video (that pinned comment is getting a little big), so having an up-to-date doc might be a good idea.

 

[evodon84]

Thank you, glad I could help! Unfortunately I don't have much of a transcript; this was my first big video project and I recorded the clips first, then wrote the captions directly in DaVinci Resolve afterwards to fit what was going on. I was a lot more organized for my Gran Turismo 3 guide and documented everything before I started recording and producing the video.

I might write a handbook for GT2 some day though; I'll post it here when I do. There are a few things I missed or overlooked when making the video (that pinned comment is getting a little big), so having an up-to-date doc might be a good idea.

all good no worries, again thank you very much for this!

 

[evodon84]

Any chance you could share a screenshot of your preferred Suspension, LSD, and Transmission config for EVO's?

 

[TeaKanji]

Any chance you could share a screenshot of your preferred Suspension, LSD, and Transmission config for EVO's?

Sure thing. This is for the Evo V RS, no power upgrades (293hp), super soft racing tyres and all other upgrades except ASM and TCS:

springs: 2.0 / 10.0
ride height: 100 / 100
dampers (B + R) 1 / 1
camber: 2.2 / 1.2
toe: -0.20 / 0.20
stabilisers: 3 / 7

brakes: 16 / 12

gears: final gear to 4.000, then auto setup to 1, then final gear to 2.500, then individual gears to 4.631, 3.204, 2.245, 1.620, 1.176

downforce: 0.52 / 0.85

LSD: 1 / 1, 1 / 1, 1 / 1

So, a few things to note: from my testing, 4WD suspension doesn't behave anything like it does in later GT games. Stiff rear springs seem to induce oversteer, while it's the opposite in later games. I can hardly tell any difference between damper values with this car; 1 / 1 seems to give pretty responsive steering. It seems really difficult to screw up the Evo's suspension, mainly because most of the settings seem to barely affect the car's handling.

Doing the ride height trick for extra acceleration is optional. Personally, I feel like the extra turning ability from low ride height outweighs the benefits of the trick. Up to you, I guess.

But yeah, this is a very strange car to tune. I kept driving the same corner over and over, changing the settings each time, and the differences were always minimal. I suspect there's something funky going on behind the scenes with 4WD suspension (and, by extension, FF's as well). The super soft tyres might have something to do with it as well.

 

[evodon84]

Thanks much. I forgot I haven't done the racing modification to my EVO, cause I don't like the livery but that setup helped. It helped much more with the STi Rally Car since it has aero.

 

[evodon84]

After a while I got used to your settings you posted above and used them for my AWD cars. I had so much fun playing GT2 again in large parts thanks to your guide.

Much appreciated!

 

[TeaKanji]

After a while I got used to your settings you posted above and used them for my AWD cars. I had so much fun playing GT2 again in large parts thanks to your guide.

Much appreciated!

That's great to hear, glad I could help!

 

[TeaKanji]

Looking back nearly two years later, my explanation of gear setup and the 'gear trick' in this Ultimate Guide was very convoluted and seemed to confuse a lot of people. Truthfully, I was still in the process of understanding it myself, and it wasn't really until I made the GT4 guide that I had a proper grasp of how the Auto slider operates.

If anyone coming across this thread is looking for more clarity on gear setup, I recently made a video (with voiceover) explaining all of the important details. I primarily use footage of GT4 as examples, but everything works the exact same way in GT2. Hopefully it clears things up.



I also made an "Advanced Tuning Guide" doc last year that goes into much more detail into suspension tuning, alongside how frame rate affects the game's physics. GT2 plays completely differently depending on the frame rate (especially when comparing PAL 25 FPS vs. NTSC 30 FPS), as physics are tied to frame rate and a car's suspension can easily break on low-FPS when it's set too stiff. It can also be used to your advantage if you set the car up a specific way, though.

Gran Turismo 2: Advanced Tuning Guide

docs.google.com

 

[Oreca 1998]

@TeaKanji I've seen your hour long video and tried implementing the "transmission flip" on my Peugeot 406 coupe but the 1 km test ends up slower than my previous attempts without it. I don't know if it's a problem on my part but the car has a great power band. Now I'm struggling with tuning the Lancia HF Integrale transmission due to its wide power band. The car seems to lose power at 6000 rpm, 1000 rpm below the red line. This is also the case with the Integrale Evo and the Collezione.

 

[TeaKanji]

@TeaKanji I've seen your hour long video and tried implementing the "transmission flip" on my Peugeot 406 coupe but the 1 km test ends up slower than my previous attempts without it. I don't know if it's a problem on my part but the car has a great power band. Now I'm struggling with tuning the Lancia HF Integrale transmission due to its wide power band. The car seems to lose power at 6000 rpm, 1000 rpm below the red line. This is also the case with the Integrale Evo and the Collezione.

Definitely sounds like something's wrong. With the stock gear setup at least, the 406 Coupe has a ton of wheelspin in 1st and has low top speed. Try this, it works with all power upgrades: final to 3.950, auto to 1, final to 2.500, then set individual gears to 3.600, 2.399, 1.935, 1.600, 1.325.

Also, yeah, the Integrale's redline is much higher than its power band. The best solution is to drive in manual and gear up as the power peak begins to fall off, because otherwise the close gears are going to be outside of the power band when driving in automatic.

 

[2lazydontcare]

I was wondering if Engine Balancing might be counterproductive with automatic trans in some cases. It seems like it might be.

Also, can anyone explain the gear trick in text form, with at least half-decent grammar/spelling/spacing? Give me the executive summary. I don't have the patience for a Youtube video, and the automated transcript is painful to try and read.

 

[Oreca 1998]

Definitely sounds like something's wrong. With the stock gear setup at least, the 406 Coupe has a ton of wheelspin in 1st and has low top speed. Try this, it works with all power upgrades: final to 3.950, auto to 1, final to 2.500, then set individual gears to 3.600, 2.399, 1.935, 1.600, 1.325.

Also, yeah, the Integrale's redline is much higher than its power band. The best solution is to drive in manual and gear up as the power peak begins to fall off, because otherwise the close gears are going to be outside of the power band when driving in automatic.

Thank you for the transmission setup for the 406 @TeaKanji
As for the Integrale I found out the best transmission setup to be: Auto Setup:1
FD: 2500 (after transmission flip)
1st: 4145
2nd: 3055
3rd: 2235
4th: 1710
5th: 1350
Shifting at 6000 - 6100 rpm

I have noticed that cars like the Lancia HF Integrale, 1969 Camaro Z28 and Dodge Challenger require long gear ratios to remain within their power band. So instead of setting Auto Setup to 1 and FD to 5500 to get close gear ratios, you have to do the opposite where AS is set to 25 or higher and FD to 5500 to get the longest gears and remain within the power band.

Edit: The Lancia setup above works for all tracks, however if anyone's looking for top speed with this car then setting FD to 5500 then AS to 25 would make the gears longer which should place the car at the optimum rev range for peak torque and horsepower.

 

[Oreca 1998]

I was wondering if Engine Balancing might be counterproductive with automatic trans in some cases. It seems like it might be.

Also, can anyone explain the gear trick in text form, with at least half-decent grammar/spelling/spacing? Give me the executive summary. I don't have the patience for a Youtube video, and the automated transcript is painful to try and read.

Engine balancing is a great upgrade as it increases the rpms where your engine runs at peak torque and horsepower.

The gear trick works as follows: Set the final drive to 5.500, then the auto setup to 1 and the game calculates the gear ratios based on those two. You can now change the final drive to the value you see fit to minimize wheelspin in first gear but NEVER change the auto setup as this will reset the gear ratios. After finding the perfect final drive, take the value of it and subtract 2.500 from it (e.g your chosen final drive is 3.500 so: 3.500 - 2.500 = 1.000). Then add 0.450 to the result (1.000 + 0.450 = 1.450) and subtract it from 5.500 (5.500 - 1.450 = 4.050) and you'll get the optimum final drive for close gears. Set the value of the final drive to the end result (4.050) and then press the auto setup set at 1 again and this should calculate the gear ratios based on final drive 4.050 and auto setup 1. Then change the final drive one final time to minimize wheelspin in first gear, DON'T touch the auto setup and setup the remaining gears the way you like (3rd and 4th gears are recommended all the way to the right with the 5th gear slightly longer. For cars with 6 gears you slide the 3rd, 4th and 5th gears all the way to the right.)
With this setup you'll get close gears and this works with cars that have a narrow power band (the area between peak torque and peak horsepower e.g: the rpms between peak torque at 6000 rpm and peak hp at 7500 rpm is where your engine runs the best). Cars with narrow power bands nearing the red line must be shifted within the red line so that the needle on the tachometer lands at the power band for the next gear. Whereas cars with wide power bands shouldn't always be revved.
I have noticed that cars with wide power bands benefit from longer gear ratios as the higher they rev the more power they will lose (like all Nissan GT-Rs, all Lancia Delta HF models, 69' Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger and some other old muscle cars). The best way to tune the transmission of those cars is to set the final drive to 5.500 and the auto setup to 25 or higher and this will result in extremely long gears which you can adjust just like the method with close gears.

@TeaKanji How can you deal with the understeer as a result of setting the front spring rate too low compared to the rear? Later GTs advise that the higher the tyre grip the better it is to have stiffer springs and stiffer dampers (although this depends on the circuit). Tracks like Trial Mountain require softer springs however I found that with 11.0 at the front and 12.0 or 13.0 at the rear, the car is more in contact with the road with the only issue being the jump following the 4th corner after the tunnel.
I always find it marvelous how suspension tuning differs from one player to another.

 

[TeaKanji]

@TeaKanji How can you deal with the understeer as a result of setting the front spring rate too low compared to the rear? Later GTs advise that the higher the tyre grip the better it is to have stiffer springs and stiffer dampers (although this depends on the circuit). Tracks like Trial Mountain require softer springs however I found that with 11.0 at the front and 12.0 or 13.0 at the rear, the car is more in contact with the road with the only issue being the jump following the 4th corner after the tunnel.
I always find it marvelous how suspension tuning differs from one player to another.

I find that GT2's suspension physics don't simulate spring rates very accurately when it comes to body roll, especially compared to later games. With a very soft front and stiff rear, you'll almost always get better rotation from my experience. In later games, a stiff rear spring rate will make the car more difficult to turn regardless of how soft the front is, because it can't move around its weight nearly as much.

Are you playing on original FPS (25 for PAL, 30 for NTSC-U), or are you using a high-FPS cheat code? Physics appear to be tied to the frame rate, and spring rates impact the car way more on 25 / 30 FPS. In GT2 speedruns, the 'optimal' setup is to have really stiff springs and dampers so the car 'stutters' on elevation changes and turns really sharply at high speeds since it's constantly losing and re-gaining grip. This quirk is 'fixed' with high-FPS though, so you've much more freedom to use whatever spring settings feel good to drive with.

 

[Oreca 1998]

I find that GT2's suspension physics don't simulate spring rates very accurately when it comes to body roll, especially compared to later games. With a very soft front and stiff rear, you'll almost always get better rotation from my experience. In later games, a stiff rear spring rate will make the car more difficult to turn regardless of how soft the front is, because it can't move around its weight nearly as much.

Are you playing on original FPS (25 for PAL, 30 for NTSC-U), or are you using a high-FPS cheat code? Physics appear to be tied to the frame rate, and spring rates impact the car way more on 25 / 30 FPS. In GT2 speedruns, the 'optimal' setup is to have really stiff springs and dampers so the car 'stutters' on elevation changes and turns really sharply at high speeds since it's constantly losing and re-gaining grip. This quirk is 'fixed' with high-FPS though, so you've much more freedom to use whatever spring settings feel good to drive with.

Wow I never knew that FPS had an effect on the tuning setup. That's great to know.
I'm playing on original 30 FPS for NTSC on my phone using duckstation.