Flatshifting (keeping it pinned while shifting) a traditional gear box (such as the MX5) is a real technique that is valid and does work in the real world. BUT, on the flip side, it's not something you would do every shift because you will turn the box to dust sooner rather than later. There was an article on the iR forums where one of the drivers mentioned they flatshifted to win the race at Sebring a year back actually. Funnily enough, both guys were iRacers. lol
If you're trying to learn Heel'n'Toe downshifting, start (not actually racing) by practicing the rev matching side of things. Drive in a straight line and slow down by downshifting through the gear box, blipping the throttle of course ... you're not after speed you just want to get used to matching revs as you drop down through the gear box. Don't even think about the brakes yet, that's why you pick a straightaway where you have a lot of room to slow down. Once you get that part down ... you can start using the "slanted right foot" with toes/ball of your right foot on the brake, and the heel end of your right foot covering the gas pedal. Depending on the size of your foot, a long foot (size 15 scale of things) you'll use more the side than the heel, but a size 8 or 9 might use more heel. Anyone can do it with practice, Matt's video pedal cam view is very instructive. Now, left foot braking, that takes ENORMOUS amounts of practice because most people have almost zero sensitivity for control in their left foot. It's best to gain the first degrees of left foot sensitivity (control) by driving an automatic so you can not have to worry about the clutch. Once you can brake 100% with your left foot in an automatic shift (no clutch) mode and do it well, then you are ready to learn the drivers foot-well fandango where you left foot brake, right foot brake, left foot clutch, heel'n'toe downshift ... or brake and gas together for balance not slowing down, all as the situation demands. THEN you'll be a race car driver. :D
just found your channel and i wanted to point out why i liked it from the began, a) you advice ppl to become better drives and the biggest b) footwork cam, your videos are enjoyable to watch
Awesome video, although at 8:50 the text mentions that the transmission howls because it's a sequential. It howls because the gears are straight cut and the howl is the sound of gears smashing together hundreds of times per second instead of engaging smoothly like helical gears, this gives the gears the benefit of creating no longitudinal force on the shafts which eliminates the need for a thrust bearing which in turn makes the transmission lighter, that can also be a thing in a manual so yeah. (Source: I study mechanical engineering) Sorry for being a smartass but it didn't sit right with me not to correct it :C I hope whoever reads this has learned something interesting though.
Stellar series mate, helps the people who are just here to game and have fun without very good knowledge of racing or maintaining a car on an actual circuit.
If you are talking about the "manumatic" type boxes those are entirely different from a racing sequential, and more or less an automatic that allows manual gear selection.
Sim racing newbie here. Just want to say this was the most helpful video I've found on shifting and gear boxes I've found on TH-cam. Thanks for all the help. New sub!
Already know how to heel and toe, but it never hurts learning a little bit more about it. best advice for everyone is to understand why you do it before you begin to learn it, just like Empty Box just explained. its not the easiest thing to do but when you get it right the rewards and feeling of doing it without even really thinking about it is amazing, you feel like a pro racer lol
I was shopping for a manual car in my younger years when asking a car yard owner if they had any manual cars he quoted "If god intended us to drive manual he would have given us three legs" after hearing that I turned and ran as fast as I could. haha. Good video, very thorough explanation. As in using the clutch driving sims for me has been an easy transition as I drove trucks for most of my career. I just gotta keep it off the dirt now. lol. Keep the videos coming. :D
Yes, they all use sequential boxes now. HnT is an old world technique that now-a-days is pretty much forgotten about at in the high levels, but none the less is good to understand as that is pretty much the same thing that is going on with all these fancy transmissions.
while watching your video (which explains heel-toe'ing better than most of regular racing videos) I noticed that as a youngin I has been motivated to cop a car and make a driving license because of arcade racing games like NFS. Once I get car and learned to drive I wanted to be better driver... So I get konwledge and adjust it to life, I learned to rev-match, transfer mass etc. After I get used to it I was very motivated to race with someone, problem was that law doesn't allow to do this on regular streets, thats what gets me into Sim Racing AND I LOVED IT SINCE FIRST UNDERSTEER RL CAR->SIM RACING ;D
At the road courses they run a different style transmission that is still H-Pattern but typically negates needing to use the clutch pedal to downshift. Upshifting I'm not sure if it is driver preference or the transmissions require the clutch/not require the clutch
I only have a Driving force GT, I keep auto-blip enabled for downshifting so it's not much of a problem but when upshifting they're often not very smooth and the car tends to rev high if you keep the gas pedal floored while upshifting and I've nothing it doesn't seem to make much of a difference if i lift off the throttle while upshifting and probably end up slower than if I just kept my foot down... It's one of the many things I don't seem to get quite right in iracing...
A lot of japanese time attack cars I watch have sequentials but still use clutch and some even heeltoe. Im not sure though if its just to eliminate action and time with hpatterns but retain the manual use of clutch and blipping.
Great video. In real life I drive a stage 2 WRX and heel toe all the time just for the fun of it. I just started sim racing and I have been heel toe and blip shifting every car. LOL. Now I’ll start checking for sequential transmissions and try to take advantage of there features.
Yes, it's one of the main advantages of an H pattern box. There is a vid actually here on YT of some guy in an IMSA GTP car (with only about... say 800 HP lol) going from 5th to 1st in the corkscrew - just one epically large downshift. Nothing wrong with it, I just naturally go through them all as it's the way I've always done it.
There is actually another type of sequential gearbox (ignition cut ) it just cuts away the ignition between the gear changes instead of cutting away the throttle, because the ignition cutting takes Leser time to engage and disengage the engine power, as soon as you changed your gear the combustion caber runs to rich on fuel because the the ignition system is cut away but not the injection so in the time of changing a gear the is no ignition spark but there is fuel injection, that causes the flames on some cars during up and downshifts (all in all a really nice Video I’m glad to see some one having a clue what’s going on under the chair you sitting on :)
About your comment on NASCAR and the h-pattern I'm fairly certain nationwide and sprint cup ran sequential gb's at the road courses this year not sure about the trucks though
Thanks for the tips. It's something I really need to practice. I did try doing it for a little while but I failed so gave up! Always find I would be jabbing the brake while trying to blip the throttle.
I usually show the foot cams for HnT cars, if you don't see one it's probably LFB with blip on downshifts as I spend most of my sim racing time driving GT2 / GT1 cars which don't have autoblipping. Unless of course I'm driving an open wheel car, then you will know by the clicking of my paddles 15x in each brake zone. Mash paddle to get a gear, mash paddle to get a gear.
Really wish I could learn to heel toe, but thanks to my military service, I'm left with a bum left leg below the knee. I have tried left foot braking, or learning to, but with no feeling in my left foot, I just can't get it. I make do and I've noticed I do things when braking no one else does but that comes more from adapting and trying wierd things somtimes to try and duplicate an effect that you might achieve when you can left foot brake. It's still a handicap for me and there are times I feel lacking, but it's all learning. Eventually I come up with stuff to at least close the gap.
It's a kind of a handicap, but a lot of "old school" drivers still use their right foot to brake and they don't seem to go slower than their competitors. Uwe Alzen is a typical example. He drives GT3 with paddle-shifts, but still uses his right foot for braking.
Dmitry Kireev Yeah, After spending a lot more months in iracing and being able to talk to guys, there are other little ways that right foot brakers learn to carry speed. So all in all, you can learn to make up for it in other areas in very subtle ways. I haven't been able to play due to traveling for a few months now, but I can't wait to get back to it.
Motorcycles have a sequential gear box... with manual clutch... but mine already lasts for 200k km. And I take it to trackdays on a regular basis... So I'd say from my experience that sequential boxes are pretty reliable.. Just make sure the oil is good.. The feel of getting revmatching right on a motorcycle is so awesome.. feels like a victory every time...
"Oh yeah, you also get a really cool sound with a properly rev-matched downshift. Yeah. That's reason enough to use this technique, and master it." Perfect, so true. Also, what pedals are those? They look really comfortable to use barefoot when you only have socks.
I've been having trouble with shifting, mainly getting both of my feet to hit the brake and gas. I'm using G27 pedals and due to me being younger than most (13) I can't reach across until my foot's basically sideways. Do the Elites you use have an easier feel on the gas and brake?
A little old topic, but maybe this will help others. With Logitech G pedals, you can shift the pedal plates a little. All plates can be unscrewed and moved like 1cm left or right. Maybe gas to left, brake to right will close the gap enough.
I only really notice this being a problem when I have to downshift mid turn. My ass emd breaks loose. If I can get my gears dkwn and break hard before im turning i to the Apex I seem to be ok. I just raced Oulton Park Circut in iRacing this week, there isba turn that gets me everytime going frkm 4th to 3rd mid turn. I have to learn to employ this heal toe mechanic.
I never understood the popularity of heel/toe downshifting. It's so much more comfortable to toe/heel downshift (heel on brake, toe on gas). My leg already bends that direction, you get better control of the lighter gas pedal, and you don't have to remove your foot from the accelerator. Is there big advantage I'm missing for heel/toe? Seems like there is if it's the most popular.
When you´re at 200mph and needs to stop, you want to give all your attention to the one pedal that saves your life, you´re kind not interested in confort. So that´s why you use your toe not your heel. It´s like using your thumbs to type, not the face of your hand. It´s faster to get to the brake pedal by applying your toe there...not your heel. Also you only need to give small touches on the gas pedal to rev match using the accelerator, it´s something your heel can handle.
Im so sorry for my troubles but im having a seriously hard time understanding breaking. Ive been 100% locking breaks and it seems to stop quicker that if im not locking the breaks. very confused
You do stop quicker without locking the brakes. When you lock up the wheel, they say you only get about 70% braking performance rather than 100%. So don't lock up!
Perhaps you fell like that cause of tires sound like lockup (maybe you are braking just right), but lockup scream is very loud and little different in RACE07, GT2, evolution, Asseto but iRacing (iRacing has a more like kart sound of rubber scratching the track), yet you can use your replay to get the right felling and use it accordingly, do it hard, a "good breaking" and see the replay, lock it up and see teh replay again so you can start to get the right felling.
Hey Empty at 8:40 you said modern GT cars have no automatic blipping, but most modern GT cars such as GT3 cars do. The newer Porsche GT3 Cup cars have it as well.
Is there ANY cars on iRacing that require a clutch to shift? I very rarely touch my clutch at all on any of the cars I drive, which is most of them in the service, and I don't seem to lose much time. The only cars that I've ever been stuck out of gear was the Miata and one time an SRF (still finished 4th on lead lap during week 13 lol). For this reason I wonder why I should bother learning how to heel/toe, besides it being the "right" way to do it.
No, they never require you to use the clutch in iRacing for some reason. But, it is the right way to do things, it's more fun and as you mentioned - it's more consistent.
In my opinion, i think nascar sticks with h-pad because they do so little shifting compared to other series. You brought up a great point with v8 supercars. That is part of the reason why i think marcos ambrose has had more success that montoya in nascar.
You say you've only blew a gear in papyrus sims before? I've blown gears in rfactor many a time before from shifting wrong or missing a downshift. Mostly in old cars on high speed tracks like 60's Spa.
And I heel-and-toe when downshifting when driving around fast in my car all the time. It's tricky to match the revs to get perfectly smooth changes and it's much harder at low and very high rpms but it's super fun once you get used to it!
Thanks for the video. I have a question about sequentials, specifically the CTS-V in Iracing. I think it has throttle cut upshifts but no auto blip downshifts. Is it pretty much standard practice to drive with left foot always on brake and right for throttle to blip downshifts? Feels completely counter intuitive to me but I've been pretty much exclusively using H shift race cars (like GT Legends/Power and Glory) for years now.
You can do whatever you want however you want. I prefer LFB (left foot braking) when I can for a couple of reasons (none of them speed) but there is nothing wrong with RFB even if the car allows you to LFB. Some people prefer to use their right, some their left, some both. (something I do when Heel and Toeing as you could see in the video, it's totally illogical but it's natural and it works for me )
So with regards to V8 Supercars, in which all but 2 drivers (Greg Murphy and Fabian Coulthard I believe) use the clutch on downshifts, why is that? Does it just extend the life of the transmission?
Probably simply habit more than anything else. If you've been driving like that for a while, it's worked, it's gotten you to a high level, why try and alter that style?
Empty Box That makes sense, only Greg Murphy's been driving V8 Supercars since before they had straight-cut transmissions, so he must've had to alter it TO the LFB style at some point.
zmiller93 are u sure? If so most production cars us helix cut gears there's nothing special about them other than a smoother sound due to gradual constant contact...... Not durable for gear slamming..... And also any and every production car can be shifted without use of the clutch.... Ever had a clutch cable fail? It's not recommended on production cars because of the synchromesh and helix cut.
When running H-Pattern cars in R3E, I keep tearing the gearbox to bits on downshifts, and I'm not sure why. I don't feel like i'm doing anything wrong in terms of HnT, yet after 15 minutes or so, shifting is nigh impossible.
A buddy of mine races the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, and actually won the Watkins Glen and VIR races last year. Thing is, judging by his footcam, he wasn't using the clutch. I noticed a similar technique from AJ Allmendinger's footcam, where the clutch just wasn't used. I know on iRacing in an H pattern car you can up shift by just lifting off the throttle, and downshifting by simply blipping the throttle, but in real life, especially on a budget K&N team, why would the clutch just be sitting doing sweet FA?
Depends on the transmission, seems most stock cars now use dog boxes which basically means for the purposes of this video they are the same as sequential only with h pattern gear selection. You'll still see a mix though, when making this video I found one of Kasey Kahne clutching on upshifts but not downshifts, which I found quite odd. Some guys HnT, some don't, within stock cars it seems like more of a mix than other series where LFB has become the thing and RFB is more of a rarity. I'd imagine a guy like AJ with an open wheel background is naturally prone to LFB and has been for some time, so wouldn't surprise me.
That applies to sequentials and dogboxes (one and the same for our uses in a sim). Like I said, you are slamming it into gear, speed is of the essence. Even still it's quite common to see NASCAR drivers HnT with clutch despite it being "bad", largely due to the amount of power and lack of grip relative to weight. I bet you would see more drivers driving a NASCAR style car as a standard H pattern manual than a sequential because of that. The goal is to not overcomplicate things.
Question, when driving a car with a sequential gearbox that does not have throttle cut upshifts but you don't lift the gas, the revs go up then won't it "pop the clutch" each time you upshift giving to a better jump into the next gear? I just feel like it would be faster. Would like to hear other peoples thoughts.
So keeping the foot flat to the floor? You could do that in theory, but it'd just place extra stress on the driveline and yield zero lap time advantage - if the wheels are spinning, you are going slow.
I would've loved to see the inputs (like, level of braking or acceleration) alongside your foot cam. Sweet stuff :) I'm new to racing sims (err, well, anything outside of GT) and I don't recognize this sim! rFactor? Love to see your skill on Clermont Ferrand!
EB... Thanks for the videos. Since I found your channel I've really become interested in iracing. Off topic question for you: g27 for $250 or Fanatec combo setup for $300. Opinion? I trust you.
I was wondering since formula one and indycar have a hand clutch paddle, is there any benefits of still being able to use the clutch in those types of cars?
The clutch is only used for starts / getting out of the pit box in those types of cars, other than that it's never touched. Seeing how the only sim racing wheels with a hand clutch out there are custom made, you are probably best just using the foot clutch like regular. :)
Must say, watching this video has helped both in sim racing, simcade and real life driving. Hope to get back into iRacing again. I enjoyed it when I did drive in it, budget issues and such. :/
Sorry to bother you literally 9 years later lmao. But I have a question. I've learned that I should double clutch when downshifting. Essentially "clutch down, shift to neutral, clutch up, blip, clutch down, shift into gear, clutch up." But this video shows blipping while the clutch is still down. Is there any real difference? Is there a benefit to the extra effort of double clutching or am I just expending extra time and energy into my downshifts?
i just started iRacing, is it better to learn this now (along with everything else like driving racing line, braking, and throttle app) or should i take it as progression once I'm a bit more settled with other basic stuff? or do you think might as well try to learn all of these altogether?
Don't most GT, F1 and Rally racers shift without the clutch anyway as race cars have racing gearboxes with dog clutches so you don't need to press the clutch to shift once you get the car rolling??
Nominally, if we break down the sequence into discrete steps its typically clutch-in then apply throttle to raise up the RPM. In practice, there's a significant amount of overlap here. Racing sims tend to let you get away with a lot more than in a real car. In sims, my motions tend to be simultaneous. In my real car, I have to lead with the clutch a bit more if I want the shifter to actually move out of gear when I want it to. You already have the theory down, use what works for you.
It's... odd. The way it works is if you use it you need to get to 100% clutch travel for it to count, which is NOT how it works in a real car. To fix that, "short calibrate" the pedal. Rather than push it to the floor like it says you should, push it half way. Or if you have CSPv2s, set the max at the point where the resistance goes away.
How do you set it up to not auto-clutch for you (as well as for it to not allow pre-selection [cheating]) in iRacing? I have a G27 and I set it for no shifting assist, but the clutch still cuts in automatically at low speeds and it's annoying!
If ya have access to an irl 98 civic and have big feet heel toe is easy af the pedals are so close together I just put half my foot on each pedal down the middle vertically
Clermont Ferrand's probably my favourite sim track. When I first saw it in GPL, I thought I'd never get my head 'round it. Now it's my go-to warm-up track in rFactor [it's 2020, and I still use the original - and I run GPL still]. The McLaren MP4/4 is a real blast to drive on this track.
No, they run H-Pattern. Most drivers though left foot brake and just blip with their right foot. They don't have to use the clutch with the transmission type (dogbox) they have.
If the rear gets loose and breaks traction when downshifting and loses a lot of rpm, it probably needs to be manually blipped. If not, then it does it automatically. Most sequentials without auto-blip are in cars from the late 90's to the early/mid 2000's. Newer cars should have auto-blip irrc.
I have tried driving Iracing with no shift assistance and its pretty fun. But watching your foot work with only two pedals gives me an idea of how I am suppost to dowwshift cause I find myself jumping up and down when downshifting.XDD
Empty, what do you think of the clutch in iRacing? No matter what I try (short calibrating etc) I can't seem to get along with it. I often mis-shift. Do you think it is currently broken?
+FezzantPlucka if the rev light is coming on, it's saying you've blipped to the shift point. You're probably blipping a little too much, since the point is to get the RPMs to where they're be at the next gear
I have to ask. Do you think it's okay to downshift multiple gears with one move? For example: When I raced in iRacing at summit with the mx5 once, there is the slow left corner taken with 2nd, while you're aproaching it with 4th. So instead of going through the gears one at a time, I go from 4th to 2nd in one move, but after I slow down the car enough to not over-rev it. All that in a heel and toe of course. So what do you think, is it okay, do you stress the gear box like that?
I noticed in iRacing that when I try to heal/toe the throttle goes up but even thou i don't lift off the brake that the brake lifts as I dab on the throttle. In this case is there any point in heal/toe. If not, is there a setting that I can change? As I am trying to learn the heal/toe technique.
You may have a pedal set that uses the same input for both brake and throttle. On my DrivingForce GT pedals you can't use both brake and throttle at the same time unless you install the Logitech Profiler software. You can't use the new versions either, I think the latest version you can use is 5.10.127, back from 2010.
Hey Empty Box, great video. I got a quick question about shifting. I race a lot in leagues for rFactor and I've noticed that the mod I've driving is a sequential with throttle cut... but I've noticed that if I still blip while braking it still has an effect even if the car is supposed to blip for me? I'm pretty sure this isn't a placebo effect as when I try to brake very late I either spin out of the car due to how fast I'm shifting down or the car just doesn't slow down enough. Can you offer an explanation to this? Thanks
Blipping "harder" or "longer" than the electronic autoblip can also have the effect of altering the brake bias more or less. If the car is RWD, applying some power through the rear wheels means the rear end can't slow as fast as the car fights itself. Usually helps to stabilize the car.
i got a used g25, i never plress the clutch enough on down shifting (and when trying to heel and toe, well i never press the brake enough, so i never manage to do a corner) should i just start with basic braking and downshifting, getting htat correct and then start heel and toe
i play project cars with no assists and everything turned off exept abs and use the manual clutch too but with some cars even when im using manual cluch i can shift without using the clutch. is that normal ? for example the group a cars like the sierra.
***** Depends on the car, depends on the transmission. I know from experience some cars over in that game you pretty much need to use the clutch and some others have a very wide zone where you can do it clutchless. It's normal and realistic - it is possible to upshift even a standard manual without a clutch, if you do it right.
As I move off the MX-5 I am trying to learn how to "properly" drive. I currently have the DrivingForceGT with only two pedals. Would you recommend learning how to heel and toe anyway, or is it better to start of just left foot braking and then learning heel ant toe after rev matching with two feet? Thank you for all the great videos!
When I had my DFGT, I never bothered with heel toeing, as there was obviously no clutch pedal. I would LFB because well, 2 feet, two pedals, makes sense. I never heel and toed with those pedals, though I would still blip when required (see the sequential part of this video - that is how I drove footwork wise, LFB + blip on downshift, no clutch) Once I switched pedals, I then learned how to HnT and RFB. I personally would say I found RFB easy to pick up on, but by the time I had started RFB I had driven cars on the street (where I always RFB) and had a good bit of sim racing under my belt. HnT is somewhat tricky to learn, but you cant really learn it and get the timing without a clutch pedal.
I had to drive a car without a clutch once, master cylinder pooped out on a car coming back from a dealer auction, it was a challenge being forced to learn how to perfectly match rpm up and down gears.. i made it 20 or so thankfully mostly highway miles without completely destroying the gearbox so i guess i did okay
Yup. I've had them for about a year and a half, I think they are an improvement over the stock CSP pads, I find they feel better plus they aren't as in the way as the larger stock pads (I do have large feet though). Poor quality hardware to install it though, the screws are getting some minor surface rust which for the price, I'd have expected some nicer hardware. Wouldn't say it's a night and day difference, it is an improvement though. If you want a different feel on your pedals it's worth checking out.
Thanks for the info Empty Box, my question i want to ask is, what pedals you would recommend for the Logitech Driving Force GT? Are there any clutch pedals which are compatible with the wheel? (which i recently bought btw because of your videos).
nice vid and foot work! .. I always was thinking to use this in real car, but don't want to screw up the transmission ..seems I could probably learn the technique in sims .. is the iracing best for it or are there better sims? ( more punishing if you do it wrong?)
I'm getting there with heel and toe but left foot braking still is f*cking difficult. With my left foot I'm as sensitive as I would be if I would brake with my butt.
Yeah most of these new cars in the last 15 years where having a slap shifter or even paddle shifters on the sport trims of most cars is standard even on a camry lol, but it's just a standard TC auto with some electronic gizmo that allows you to put it in manual mode. Now there not all bad, my awd g35 for example has 5at with rev matching and it will hold gears at high rpm's unlike my old pos 2000 eclipse gt. But generally your slower using the manual mode on trannys like this when it comes to all out acceleration and shift times BUT the computer can be goofy downshifting. I really like being able to control when it downshifts but these TC auto's are nothing like a DLC or a true sequential transmission. A dlc is really the ultimate tranny for speed but there is nothing like rowing through gears and using a clutch. Especially once you master it, it is very rewarding once you nail it. I got in to sim racing for it to transfer over to real life as much as possible. I'm not delusional, I know this 100% does not transfer but if you have the correct set up you can 100% improve real life. If anything I find some things easier in real life because I can feel the revs and the g forces, you just have a lot more info coming in where as in a sim you really have to rely on visuals and feel from the wheel. I'm just about to install 4 bass shakers next week and im very excited for that. Just to feel the shifts would help a ton. Hopefully by the end of the year I can get a dof reality p3 or p6. For the money they are absolutely incredible. If you can settle for a seat mover like NLR's V3 motion platform, you could get the m2 starting at $750!! Or the heavier duty one for around a grand. They have a pro model with tougher motors for commercial use or whatever and then they have a standard version. You can get there 2dof for around 1500 and upgrade to the 3 and 6 dof versions. Lol honestly I'm almost having as much fun planning and building my rig than actually using it. I'm 26 and I am very late to the game. I had a wheel growing up but it was a joke. I didn't realize these ffb wheels were even around and it sounds like the logitech has been around since the 2000's. I wish I would of discovered this back then but oh well. My set up so far though is a t300rs that came with a conquer cockpit, T-LCM pedals, fanatec 1.5sq shifter, drivehub adapter for ps4. Im using an old 43in 1080p vizio for my display and also have PSVR. The cockpit was not working so I built a hybrid using the conquer seat and an old printer stand for the wheel stand on a plywood base lol. It's not pretty but solid and its a temporary rig although it's good enough to be a permanent rig but now I see where I can improve.
Practice, practice, practice. Depending on your pedal setup, making yourself require more force to get more braking can help (as in push harder for the same effort) can help. Also, pedal positioning can be key. For example my street car I get the same type of heel and toe (where as I blip I inadvertently smash the brake) because the throttle pedal is a bit further back than I'd like, so I have to "reach" for the pedal with my heel, which usually results in the toe pushing forward as well. :)
Haha yeah that is to a T my issue! I'll mess around with my csr pedals so I can practice better with those, but nothing can be done about my car's pedals i suppose :( thanks for the help man, appreciated!
Empty Box! I can tell you some more info on the NASCAR gear boxes that I bet you didn't know! NASCAR uses a transmission called a "Dog Box", which allows clutch-less shifting. If you take apart a NASCAR trans, and compare it to a sequential trans from a GT type car, the internals are closely similar. In NASCAR, you only need the clutch to come to a stop, and to take off. It's basically a sequential H-Pattern gear box.
Yeah. most gearboxes in racecars, GT through to DTM, are dog-cut sequentials. These allow flat downshifts (if you really want to) and most importantly, flat out upshifts. There is no cutting of throttle by the computer or clutch actuation, with dogcut gears you transition from one gear to the next with no decoupling of the transmission and no loss in power transmission. I have to say the first time I drove a car with a dog-cut sequential, I couldn't stop. Besides the sound, and it feeling like you're sticking your hand into the box and changing gears yourself, the full power upshifts with no loss of acceleration are insane. rear wheel upset at 90mph insane
I know. But in NASCAR, their is no computer for that part. You have to blip the throttle yourself. The only computer on the car is for the fuel injection on the motor. That and sensors.
I'm 95% sure NASCAR transmissions aren't straight cut (dog box.) You still have to lift off the throttle to change gears and blip the throttle to change gears. The reason you don't have to use the clutch is because there are no synchronizing rings in the transmission.
one day i woke up and suddenly i could heel and toe. idk why.
This was me but with drifting
@@genarodeleon858 something just clicks with drifting
Flatshifting (keeping it pinned while shifting) a traditional gear box (such as the MX5) is a real technique that is valid and does work in the real world. BUT, on the flip side, it's not something you would do every shift because you will turn the box to dust sooner rather than later.
There was an article on the iR forums where one of the drivers mentioned they flatshifted to win the race at Sebring a year back actually. Funnily enough, both guys were iRacers. lol
If you're trying to learn Heel'n'Toe downshifting, start (not actually racing) by practicing the rev matching side of things. Drive in a straight line and slow down by downshifting through the gear box, blipping the throttle of course ... you're not after speed you just want to get used to matching revs as you drop down through the gear box. Don't even think about the brakes yet, that's why you pick a straightaway where you have a lot of room to slow down. Once you get that part down ... you can start using the "slanted right foot" with toes/ball of your right foot on the brake, and the heel end of your right foot covering the gas pedal. Depending on the size of your foot, a long foot (size 15 scale of things) you'll use more the side than the heel, but a size 8 or 9 might use more heel. Anyone can do it with practice, Matt's video pedal cam view is very instructive. Now, left foot braking, that takes ENORMOUS amounts of practice because most people have almost zero sensitivity for control in their left foot. It's best to gain the first degrees of left foot sensitivity (control) by driving an automatic so you can not have to worry about the clutch. Once you can brake 100% with your left foot in an automatic shift (no clutch) mode and do it well, then you are ready to learn the drivers foot-well fandango where you left foot brake, right foot brake, left foot clutch, heel'n'toe downshift ... or brake and gas together for balance not slowing down, all as the situation demands.
THEN you'll be a race car driver. :D
BIG FACTS
from driving forklift at work I lwsrn left foot braking lol
just found your channel and i wanted to point out why i liked it from the began, a) you advice ppl to become better drives and the biggest b) footwork cam, your videos are enjoyable to watch
Awesome video, although at 8:50 the text mentions that the transmission howls because it's a sequential. It howls because the gears are straight cut and the howl is the sound of gears smashing together hundreds of times per second instead of engaging smoothly like helical gears, this gives the gears the benefit of creating no longitudinal force on the shafts which eliminates the need for a thrust bearing which in turn makes the transmission lighter, that can also be a thing in a manual so yeah. (Source: I study mechanical engineering)
Sorry for being a smartass but it didn't sit right with me not to correct it :C I hope whoever reads this has learned something interesting though.
Stellar series mate, helps the people who are just here to game and have fun without very good knowledge of racing or maintaining a car on an actual circuit.
If you are talking about the "manumatic" type boxes those are entirely different from a racing sequential, and more or less an automatic that allows manual gear selection.
Sim racing newbie here. Just want to say this was the most helpful video I've found on shifting and gear boxes I've found on TH-cam. Thanks for all the help. New sub!
When I started watching this series, I thought I knew a decent amount about driving... Ohhh was I wrong.
This video is 6 years old, and is still as relevant today. Thanks for teaching me how to tackle the chaos of a DRM car.
Edit: Sub earned too.
Already know how to heel and toe, but it never hurts learning a little bit more about it. best advice for everyone is to understand why you do it before you begin to learn it, just like Empty Box just explained. its not the easiest thing to do but when you get it right the rewards and feeling of doing it without even really thinking about it is amazing, you feel like a pro racer lol
I was shopping for a manual car in my younger years when asking a car yard owner if they had any manual cars he quoted "If god intended us to drive manual he would have given us three legs" after hearing that I turned and ran as fast as I could. haha.
Good video, very thorough explanation. As in using the clutch driving sims for me has been an easy transition as I drove trucks for most of my career. I just gotta keep it off the dirt now. lol.
Keep the videos coming. :D
Yes, they all use sequential boxes now. HnT is an old world technique that now-a-days is pretty much forgotten about at in the high levels, but none the less is good to understand as that is pretty much the same thing that is going on with all these fancy transmissions.
while watching your video (which explains heel-toe'ing better than most of regular racing videos) I noticed that as a youngin I has been motivated to cop a car and make a driving license because of arcade racing games like NFS. Once I get car and learned to drive I wanted to be better driver... So I get konwledge and adjust it to life, I learned to rev-match, transfer mass etc. After I get used to it I was very motivated to race with someone, problem was that law doesn't allow to do this on regular streets, thats what gets me into Sim Racing AND I LOVED IT SINCE FIRST UNDERSTEER RL CAR->SIM RACING ;D
I recall the moment I did H&T right for the very first time - it was mind blown. Inside I had tears of joy.
Good video tutorial! H&T FTW.
At the road courses they run a different style transmission that is still H-Pattern but typically negates needing to use the clutch pedal to downshift. Upshifting I'm not sure if it is driver preference or the transmissions require the clutch/not require the clutch
I only have a Driving force GT, I keep auto-blip enabled for downshifting so it's not much of a problem but when upshifting they're often not very smooth and the car tends to rev high if you keep the gas pedal floored while upshifting and I've nothing it doesn't seem to make much of a difference if i lift off the throttle while upshifting and probably end up slower than if I just kept my foot down... It's one of the many things I don't seem to get quite right in iracing...
A lot of japanese time attack cars I watch have sequentials but still use clutch and some even heeltoe. Im not sure though if its just to eliminate action and time with hpatterns but retain the manual use of clutch and blipping.
Great video. In real life I drive a stage 2 WRX and heel toe all the time just for the fun of it. I just started sim racing and I have been heel toe and blip shifting every car. LOL. Now I’ll start checking for sequential transmissions and try to take advantage of there features.
Ended up deciding on the ClubSport Pedals... not sure when they'll get here, but I'll resume my quest to blip then.
Yes, it's one of the main advantages of an H pattern box. There is a vid actually here on YT of some guy in an IMSA GTP car (with only about... say 800 HP lol) going from 5th to 1st in the corkscrew - just one epically large downshift. Nothing wrong with it, I just naturally go through them all as it's the way I've always done it.
There is actually another type of sequential gearbox (ignition cut ) it just cuts away the ignition between the gear changes instead of cutting away the throttle, because the ignition cutting takes Leser time to engage and disengage the engine power, as soon as you changed your gear the combustion caber runs to rich on fuel because the the ignition system is cut away but not the injection so in the time of changing a gear the is no ignition spark but there is fuel injection, that causes the flames on some cars during up and downshifts (all in all a really nice Video I’m glad to see some one having a clue what’s going on under the chair you sitting on :)
Sorry for my grammar ( I’m from Germany)
About your comment on NASCAR and the h-pattern I'm fairly certain nationwide and sprint cup ran sequential gb's at the road courses this year not sure about the trucks though
First track is Charade, 70's version if I'm not mistaken. Awesome track to have fun - tons of mods for any sim out there.
Depends on the cars, some have terrible pedal placement, but you can heel and toe in every street cars that use a manual.
Thanks for the tips. It's something I really need to practice. I did try doing it for a little while but I failed so gave up! Always find I would be jabbing the brake while trying to blip the throttle.
Im glad someone finally addressed this. I wish iRacing would atleast have the car stall if you didn't hold the clutch or spun out.
Glad i subbed.
i love reading old comments like these because iRacing just implemented it in 2019 Season 2 patch, making this comment completely irrelevant.
@@TomBoi indeed. But auto clutch works for those that still need it which is great.
If anyone else watches this video 4 years after it was published, what car mod is this and do links to it still exist?
The 2 different socks is driving me crazy. I can’t even pay attention lol
I usually show the foot cams for HnT cars, if you don't see one it's probably LFB with blip on downshifts as I spend most of my sim racing time driving GT2 / GT1 cars which don't have autoblipping. Unless of course I'm driving an open wheel car, then you will know by the clicking of my paddles 15x in each brake zone.
Mash paddle to get a gear, mash paddle to get a gear.
Thanks empty box this really helped me out and i can rev match heel and toe now!
Really wish I could learn to heel toe, but thanks to my military service, I'm left with a bum left leg below the knee. I have tried left foot braking, or learning to, but with no feeling in my left foot, I just can't get it. I make do and I've noticed I do things when braking no one else does but that comes more from adapting and trying wierd things somtimes to try and duplicate an effect that you might achieve when you can left foot brake. It's still a handicap for me and there are times I feel lacking, but it's all learning. Eventually I come up with stuff to at least close the gap.
It's a kind of a handicap, but a lot of "old school" drivers still use their right foot to brake and they don't seem to go slower than their competitors. Uwe Alzen is a typical example. He drives GT3 with paddle-shifts, but still uses his right foot for braking.
Dmitry Kireev Yeah, After spending a lot more months in iracing and being able to talk to guys, there are other little ways that right foot brakers learn to carry speed. So all in all, you can learn to make up for it in other areas in very subtle ways. I haven't been able to play due to traveling for a few months now, but I can't wait to get back to it.
Motorcycles have a sequential gear box... with manual clutch... but mine already lasts for 200k km. And I take it to trackdays on a regular basis... So I'd say from my experience that sequential boxes are pretty reliable.. Just make sure the oil is good.. The feel of getting revmatching right on a motorcycle is so awesome.. feels like a victory every time...
Thank you this is the type of video I’ve been looking for!
Whats the Track? Targa Florio? looks a little like that when I had a go of it on GPL.
+Sanazabaaar Charade
+Sanazabaaar Clermont-Ferrant 1970 by Motorfx
Oh, a bicycle! Finally somethinhg I can relate to
"Oh yeah, you also get a really cool sound with a properly rev-matched downshift. Yeah. That's reason enough to use this technique, and master it."
Perfect, so true. Also, what pedals are those? They look really comfortable to use barefoot when you only have socks.
DiViNiTY1337 Fanatec Clubsports with some DSD pedal faces.
I've been having trouble with shifting, mainly getting both of my feet to hit the brake and gas.
I'm using G27 pedals and due to me being younger than most (13) I can't reach across until my foot's basically sideways.
Do the Elites you use have an easier feel on the gas and brake?
Solved my problem by wearing a pair of shoes.
+Imran Agassy Did you get separate pair of shoes for sim racing? :) (I know, I'm a year late)
I mean, do you have a clean pair of shoes (normal/special doesn't matter) just for sim racing.
A little old topic, but maybe this will help others. With Logitech G pedals, you can shift the pedal plates a little. All plates can be unscrewed and moved like 1cm left or right. Maybe gas to left, brake to right will close the gap enough.
I only really notice this being a problem when I have to downshift mid turn. My ass emd breaks loose. If I can get my gears dkwn and break hard before im turning i to the Apex I seem to be ok. I just raced Oulton Park Circut in iRacing this week, there isba turn that gets me everytime going frkm 4th to 3rd mid turn. I have to learn to employ this heal toe mechanic.
I can honestly say in all my time with rFactor I've literally never lost a gear. Ever. I've blown engines, but never lost a gear.
After watching Jimmy Broadbent race in rallies in Dirt, i started to automatically heel toe.
I never understood the popularity of heel/toe downshifting. It's so much more comfortable to toe/heel downshift (heel on brake, toe on gas). My leg already bends that direction, you get better control of the lighter gas pedal, and you don't have to remove your foot from the accelerator. Is there big advantage I'm missing for heel/toe? Seems like there is if it's the most popular.
Not sure if you’d be able to apply the same amount of pressure on the brake in a real race car with that technique
When you´re at 200mph and needs to stop, you want to give all your attention to the one pedal that saves your life, you´re kind not interested in confort. So that´s why you use your toe not your heel. It´s like using your thumbs to type, not the face of your hand. It´s faster to get to the brake pedal by applying your toe there...not your heel. Also you only need to give small touches on the gas pedal to rev match using the accelerator, it´s something your heel can handle.
Im so sorry for my troubles but im having a seriously hard time understanding breaking. Ive been 100% locking breaks and it seems to stop quicker that if im not locking the breaks. very confused
You do stop quicker without locking the brakes. When you lock up the wheel, they say you only get about 70% braking performance rather than 100%. So don't lock up!
Perhaps you fell like that cause of tires sound like lockup (maybe you are braking just right), but lockup scream is very loud and little different in RACE07, GT2, evolution, Asseto but iRacing (iRacing has a more like kart sound of rubber scratching the track), yet you can use your replay to get the right felling and use it accordingly, do it hard, a "good breaking" and see the replay, lock it up and see teh replay again so you can start to get the right felling.
OK THANKS A TON GUYS!
Hey Empty at 8:40 you said modern GT cars have no automatic blipping, but most modern GT cars such as GT3 cars do. The newer Porsche GT3 Cup cars have it as well.
Is there ANY cars on iRacing that require a clutch to shift? I very rarely touch my clutch at all on any of the cars I drive, which is most of them in the service, and I don't seem to lose much time. The only cars that I've ever been stuck out of gear was the Miata and one time an SRF (still finished 4th on lead lap during week 13 lol). For this reason I wonder why I should bother learning how to heel/toe, besides it being the "right" way to do it.
No, they never require you to use the clutch in iRacing for some reason. But, it is the right way to do things, it's more fun and as you mentioned - it's more consistent.
Thanks!
In my opinion, i think nascar sticks with h-pad because they do so little shifting compared to other series. You brought up a great point with v8 supercars. That is part of the reason why i think marcos ambrose has had more success that montoya in nascar.
You say you've only blew a gear in papyrus sims before? I've blown gears in rfactor many a time before from shifting wrong or missing a downshift. Mostly in old cars on high speed tracks like 60's Spa.
And I heel-and-toe when downshifting when driving around fast in my car all the time. It's tricky to match the revs to get perfectly smooth changes and it's much harder at low and very high rpms but it's super fun once you get used to it!
Thanks for the video. I have a question about sequentials, specifically the CTS-V in Iracing. I think it has throttle cut upshifts but no auto blip downshifts. Is it pretty much standard practice to drive with left foot always on brake and right for throttle to blip downshifts? Feels completely counter intuitive to me but I've been pretty much exclusively using H shift race cars (like GT Legends/Power and Glory) for years now.
You can do whatever you want however you want. I prefer LFB (left foot braking) when I can for a couple of reasons (none of them speed) but there is nothing wrong with RFB even if the car allows you to LFB. Some people prefer to use their right, some their left, some both. (something I do when Heel and Toeing as you could see in the video, it's totally illogical but it's natural and it works for me )
So with regards to V8 Supercars, in which all but 2 drivers (Greg Murphy and Fabian Coulthard I believe) use the clutch on downshifts, why is that? Does it just extend the life of the transmission?
Probably simply habit more than anything else. If you've been driving like that for a while, it's worked, it's gotten you to a high level, why try and alter that style?
Empty Box That makes sense, only Greg Murphy's been driving V8 Supercars since before they had straight-cut transmissions, so he must've had to alter it TO the LFB style at some point.
Nascar uses helix cut gears which allow for the "slamming into gear". They don't even use the clutch now too. Just a little factoid.
zmiller93 are u sure? If so most production cars us helix cut gears there's nothing special about them other than a smoother sound due to gradual constant contact...... Not durable for gear slamming..... And also any and every production car can be shifted without use of the clutch.... Ever had a clutch cable fail? It's not recommended on production cars because of the synchromesh and helix cut.
Oh I get that but I'm wondering if his pedals provide enough realism to allow the skills to transfer directly to your average car.
When running H-Pattern cars in R3E, I keep tearing the gearbox to bits on downshifts, and I'm not sure why. I don't feel like i'm doing anything wrong in terms of HnT, yet after 15 minutes or so, shifting is nigh impossible.
Same happens for me
H patterns are aka direct select. Try this. If you are in 5th and you need to be in 2nd to exit a corner, shift from 5th to 2nd. One move, not 3.
i only tought that heel toe was therefore for preventing to lock up the rear tires
That's only part of it.
A buddy of mine races the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, and actually won the Watkins Glen and VIR races last year. Thing is, judging by his footcam, he wasn't using the clutch. I noticed a similar technique from AJ Allmendinger's footcam, where the clutch just wasn't used. I know on iRacing in an H pattern car you can up shift by just lifting off the throttle, and downshifting by simply blipping the throttle, but in real life, especially on a budget K&N team, why would the clutch just be sitting doing sweet FA?
Depends on the transmission, seems most stock cars now use dog boxes which basically means for the purposes of this video they are the same as sequential only with h pattern gear selection.
You'll still see a mix though, when making this video I found one of Kasey Kahne clutching on upshifts but not downshifts, which I found quite odd. Some guys HnT, some don't, within stock cars it seems like more of a mix than other series where LFB has become the thing and RFB is more of a rarity.
I'd imagine a guy like AJ with an open wheel background is naturally prone to LFB and has been for some time, so wouldn't surprise me.
Names of mods and tracks in the first two videos please! Thanks for the upload, deepened my understanding
That applies to sequentials and dogboxes (one and the same for our uses in a sim).
Like I said, you are slamming it into gear, speed is of the essence.
Even still it's quite common to see NASCAR drivers HnT with clutch despite it being "bad", largely due to the amount of power and lack of grip relative to weight. I bet you would see more drivers driving a NASCAR style car as a standard H pattern manual than a sequential because of that.
The goal is to not overcomplicate things.
Question, when driving a car with a sequential gearbox that does not have throttle cut upshifts but you don't lift the gas, the revs go up then won't it "pop the clutch" each time you upshift giving to a better jump into the next gear? I just feel like it would be faster. Would like to hear other peoples thoughts.
So keeping the foot flat to the floor? You could do that in theory, but it'd just place extra stress on the driveline and yield zero lap time advantage - if the wheels are spinning, you are going slow.
I would've loved to see the inputs (like, level of braking or acceleration) alongside your foot cam. Sweet stuff :) I'm new to racing sims (err, well, anything outside of GT) and I don't recognize this sim! rFactor? Love to see your skill on Clermont Ferrand!
Yes, it's all rFactor in this video.
Learning to heel-toe in real life was a huge boon both in simracing and in everyday driving.
The only problem is when my cat and/or dog get in my lap.
EB... Thanks for the videos. Since I found your channel I've really become interested in iracing. Off topic question for you: g27 for $250 or Fanatec combo setup for $300. Opinion? I trust you.
I was wondering since formula one and indycar have a hand clutch paddle, is there any benefits of still being able to use the clutch in those types of cars?
The clutch is only used for starts / getting out of the pit box in those types of cars, other than that it's never touched. Seeing how the only sim racing wheels with a hand clutch out there are custom made, you are probably best just using the foot clutch like regular. :)
Must say, watching this video has helped both in sim racing, simcade and real life driving. Hope to get back into iRacing again. I enjoyed it when I did drive in it, budget issues and such. :/
In the mid 80s the number one cause for race retirement in F1, was mis-shifting, lol. Clutchless manual for the win.
Sorry to bother you literally 9 years later lmao. But I have a question.
I've learned that I should double clutch when downshifting. Essentially "clutch down, shift to neutral, clutch up, blip, clutch down, shift into gear, clutch up." But this video shows blipping while the clutch is still down. Is there any real difference? Is there a benefit to the extra effort of double clutching or am I just expending extra time and energy into my downshifts?
i just started iRacing, is it better to learn this now (along with everything else like driving racing line, braking, and throttle app) or should i take it as progression once I'm a bit more settled with other basic stuff? or do you think might as well try to learn all of these altogether?
Don't most GT, F1 and Rally racers shift without the clutch anyway as race cars have racing gearboxes with dog clutches so you don't need to press the clutch to shift once you get the car rolling??
Nominally, if we break down the sequence into discrete steps its typically clutch-in then apply throttle to raise up the RPM. In practice, there's a significant amount of overlap here. Racing sims tend to let you get away with a lot more than in a real car. In sims, my motions tend to be simultaneous. In my real car, I have to lead with the clutch a bit more if I want the shifter to actually move out of gear when I want it to. You already have the theory down, use what works for you.
It's... odd.
The way it works is if you use it you need to get to 100% clutch travel for it to count, which is NOT how it works in a real car. To fix that, "short calibrate" the pedal. Rather than push it to the floor like it says you should, push it half way. Or if you have CSPv2s, set the max at the point where the resistance goes away.
How do you set it up to not auto-clutch for you (as well as for it to not allow pre-selection [cheating]) in iRacing? I have a G27 and I set it for no shifting assist, but the clutch still cuts in automatically at low speeds and it's annoying!
The clutch will only cut in when you would have stalled the car if you have auto clutch disabled.
Alright, thx. The Fanatec Pedals look nice, maybe in near future i will get these.
If ya have access to an irl 98 civic and have big feet heel toe is easy af the pedals are so close together I just put half my foot on each pedal down the middle vertically
I know so much more now!!! Thank you! Oh and could you do more foot cams please? It's good to see what techniques you're using for a different car. :D
You foot work is pretty good. Does it transfer over to real life well or would you need a racing peddle box put into the daily driver?
i recently changed my shift aid settings to Auto Clutch on my wingman and OMG i feel i can accelerate faster.
This is on Iracing.XP ROAD HERE I COME
CSGT WSC1970, Alfa Romeo (the Proto3000 car, can't remember the name) at Charade 1970. Great combo.
Clermont Ferrand's probably my favourite sim track. When I first saw it in GPL, I thought I'd never get my head 'round it. Now it's my go-to warm-up track in rFactor [it's 2020, and I still use the original - and I run GPL still]. The McLaren MP4/4 is a real blast to drive on this track.
No, they run H-Pattern. Most drivers though left foot brake and just blip with their right foot. They don't have to use the clutch with the transmission type (dogbox) they have.
How can I tell if the car has auto blip when using sequential (dirt rally 2.0)
If the rear gets loose and breaks traction when downshifting and loses a lot of rpm, it probably needs to be manually blipped. If not, then it does it automatically. Most sequentials without auto-blip are in cars from the late 90's to the early/mid 2000's. Newer cars should have auto-blip irrc.
@@ddrrFA5 thanks mate
When do you blip the throttle on sequential transmissions w/o autoblip, at the same time you press the downshift paddle?
I have tried driving Iracing with no shift assistance and its pretty fun. But watching your foot work with only two pedals gives me an idea of how I am suppost to dowwshift cause I find myself jumping up and down when downshifting.XDD
Empty, what do you think of the clutch in iRacing? No matter what I try (short calibrating etc) I can't seem to get along with it. I often mis-shift. Do you think it is currently broken?
Matt, have you ever tried the Grinding Tranny Plugin for rFactor? If so, what did you think about it?
Also, some times when I blip the rev light comes on. Is that wrong? Tx.
+FezzantPlucka if the rev light is coming on, it's saying you've blipped to the shift point. You're probably blipping a little too much, since the point is to get the RPMs to where they're be at the next gear
n8tehgr8
Thanks for the answer.
I have to ask. Do you think it's okay to downshift multiple gears with one move? For example: When I raced in iRacing at summit with the mx5 once, there is the slow left corner taken with 2nd, while you're aproaching it with 4th. So instead of going through the gears one at a time, I go from 4th to 2nd in one move, but after I slow down the car enough to not over-rev it. All that in a heel and toe of course. So what do you think, is it okay, do you stress the gear box like that?
I noticed in iRacing that when I try to heal/toe the throttle goes up but even thou i don't lift off the brake that the brake lifts as I dab on the throttle. In this case is there any point in heal/toe. If not, is there a setting that I can change? As I am trying to learn the heal/toe technique.
You may have a pedal set that uses the same input for both brake and throttle. On my DrivingForce GT pedals you can't use both brake and throttle at the same time unless you install the Logitech Profiler software. You can't use the new versions either, I think the latest version you can use is 5.10.127, back from 2010.
Weese Awesome thanks for the info
Hey Empty Box, great video. I got a quick question about shifting. I race a lot in leagues for rFactor and I've noticed that the mod I've driving is a sequential with throttle cut... but I've noticed that if I still blip while braking it still has an effect even if the car is supposed to blip for me?
I'm pretty sure this isn't a placebo effect as when I try to brake very late I either spin out of the car due to how fast I'm shifting down or the car just doesn't slow down enough. Can you offer an explanation to this? Thanks
Blipping "harder" or "longer" than the electronic autoblip can also have the effect of altering the brake bias more or less. If the car is RWD, applying some power through the rear wheels means the rear end can't slow as fast as the car fights itself. Usually helps to stabilize the car.
Empty, what is the name of the track you are driving with the Flat 6?
i got a used g25, i never plress the clutch enough on down shifting (and when trying to heel and toe, well i never press the brake enough, so i never manage to do a corner) should i just start with basic braking and downshifting, getting htat correct and then start heel and toe
i play project cars with no assists and everything turned off exept abs and use the manual clutch too but with some cars even when im using manual cluch i can shift without using the clutch. is that normal ? for example the group a cars like the sierra.
***** Depends on the car, depends on the transmission. I know from experience some cars over in that game you pretty much need to use the clutch and some others have a very wide zone where you can do it clutchless. It's normal and realistic - it is possible to upshift even a standard manual without a clutch, if you do it right.
oke thx :)
As I move off the MX-5 I am trying to learn how to "properly" drive. I currently have the DrivingForceGT with only two pedals. Would you recommend learning how to heel and toe anyway, or is it better to start of just left foot braking and then learning heel ant toe after rev matching with two feet?
Thank you for all the great videos!
When I had my DFGT, I never bothered with heel toeing, as there was obviously no clutch pedal. I would LFB because well, 2 feet, two pedals, makes sense. I never heel and toed with those pedals, though I would still blip when required (see the sequential part of this video - that is how I drove footwork wise, LFB + blip on downshift, no clutch)
Once I switched pedals, I then learned how to HnT and RFB. I personally would say I found RFB easy to pick up on, but by the time I had started RFB I had driven cars on the street (where I always RFB) and had a good bit of sim racing under my belt. HnT is somewhat tricky to learn, but you cant really learn it and get the timing without a clutch pedal.
I had to drive a car without a clutch once, master cylinder pooped out on a car coming back from a dealer auction, it was a challenge being forced to learn how to perfectly match rpm up and down gears.. i made it 20 or so thankfully mostly highway miles without completely destroying the gearbox so i guess i did okay
Those are DSD pedal pads right? What are they like and how long have you used them for?
Yup.
I've had them for about a year and a half, I think they are an improvement over the stock CSP pads, I find they feel better plus they aren't as in the way as the larger stock pads (I do have large feet though). Poor quality hardware to install it though, the screws are getting some minor surface rust which for the price, I'd have expected some nicer hardware.
Wouldn't say it's a night and day difference, it is an improvement though. If you want a different feel on your pedals it's worth checking out.
Thanks for the info Empty Box, my question i want to ask is, what pedals you would recommend for the Logitech Driving Force GT? Are there any clutch pedals which are compatible with the wheel? (which i recently bought btw because of your videos).
nice vid and foot work! .. I always was thinking to use this in real car, but don't want to screw up the transmission ..seems I could probably learn the technique in sims .. is the iracing best for it or are there better sims? ( more punishing if you do it wrong?)
What track and sim is that 12:01? :o
thanks
Autumn Ring by Madcowie and Lasercutter. It's the Gran Turismo track remade for rFactor. :)
Thanks boss.
I'm getting there with heel and toe but left foot braking still is f*cking difficult. With my left foot I'm as sensitive as I would be if I would brake with my butt.
Yeah most of these new cars in the last 15 years where having a slap shifter or even paddle shifters on the sport trims of most cars is standard even on a camry lol, but it's just a standard TC auto with some electronic gizmo that allows you to put it in manual mode. Now there not all bad, my awd g35 for example has 5at with rev matching and it will hold gears at high rpm's unlike my old pos 2000 eclipse gt. But generally your slower using the manual mode on trannys like this when it comes to all out acceleration and shift times BUT the computer can be goofy downshifting. I really like being able to control when it downshifts but these TC auto's are nothing like a DLC or a true sequential transmission. A dlc is really the ultimate tranny for speed but there is nothing like rowing through gears and using a clutch. Especially once you master it, it is very rewarding once you nail it.
I got in to sim racing for it to transfer over to real life as much as possible. I'm not delusional, I know this 100% does not transfer but if you have the correct set up you can 100% improve real life. If anything I find some things easier in real life because I can feel the revs and the g forces, you just have a lot more info coming in where as in a sim you really have to rely on visuals and feel from the wheel. I'm just about to install 4 bass shakers next week and im very excited for that. Just to feel the shifts would help a ton.
Hopefully by the end of the year I can get a dof reality p3 or p6. For the money they are absolutely incredible. If you can settle for a seat mover like NLR's V3 motion platform, you could get the m2 starting at $750!! Or the heavier duty one for around a grand. They have a pro model with tougher motors for commercial use or whatever and then they have a standard version. You can get there 2dof for around 1500 and upgrade to the 3 and 6 dof versions.
Lol honestly I'm almost having as much fun planning and building my rig than actually using it. I'm 26 and I am very late to the game. I had a wheel growing up but it was a joke. I didn't realize these ffb wheels were even around and it sounds like the logitech has been around since the 2000's. I wish I would of discovered this back then but oh well. My set up so far though is a t300rs that came with a conquer cockpit, T-LCM pedals, fanatec 1.5sq shifter, drivehub adapter for ps4. Im using an old 43in 1080p vizio for my display and also have PSVR. The cockpit was not working so I built a hybrid using the conquer seat and an old printer stand for the wheel stand on a plywood base lol. It's not pretty but solid and its a temporary rig although it's good enough to be a permanent rig but now I see where I can improve.
Still don’t understand how to downshift
I sometimes tend to put too much force on the brakes when i rotate my foot to blip the throttle, any ideas on how to remedy this?
Practice, practice, practice. Depending on your pedal setup, making yourself require more force to get more braking can help (as in push harder for the same effort) can help.
Also, pedal positioning can be key. For example my street car I get the same type of heel and toe (where as I blip I inadvertently smash the brake) because the throttle pedal is a bit further back than I'd like, so I have to "reach" for the pedal with my heel, which usually results in the toe pushing forward as well. :)
Haha yeah that is to a T my issue! I'll mess around with my csr pedals so I can practice better with those, but nothing can be done about my car's pedals i suppose :( thanks for the help man, appreciated!
Correct, though you will still see some guys using the clutch from time to time.
Empty Box! I can tell you some more info on the NASCAR gear boxes that I bet you didn't know! NASCAR uses a transmission called a "Dog Box", which allows clutch-less shifting. If you take apart a NASCAR trans, and compare it to a sequential trans from a GT type car, the internals are closely similar. In NASCAR, you only need the clutch to come to a stop, and to take off. It's basically a sequential H-Pattern gear box.
Yeah. most gearboxes in racecars, GT through to DTM, are dog-cut sequentials. These allow flat downshifts (if you really want to) and most importantly, flat out upshifts. There is no cutting of throttle by the computer or clutch actuation, with dogcut gears you transition from one gear to the next with no decoupling of the transmission and no loss in power transmission. I have to say the first time I drove a car with a dog-cut sequential, I couldn't stop. Besides the sound, and it feeling like you're sticking your hand into the box and changing gears yourself, the full power upshifts with no loss of acceleration are insane. rear wheel upset at 90mph insane
I know. But in NASCAR, their is no computer for that part. You have to blip the throttle yourself. The only computer on the car is for the fuel injection on the motor. That and sensors.
I'm 95% sure NASCAR transmissions aren't straight cut (dog box.) You still have to lift off the throttle to change gears and blip the throttle to change gears. The reason you don't have to use the clutch is because there are no synchronizing rings in the transmission.
Nascar transmissions are 4 speed dog box transmissions. Yes i would know, I've driven a nationwide car. Dont beleive me, look it up. Lmoa
Nascar transmissions are 4 speed dog box transmissions. Yes i would know, I've driven a nationwide car. Dont beleive me, look it up. Lmao