Manual Transmission

[Chaos_A]

I am using manual transmission with the GT1 on autobahn
Setup:
-.50
-.35
-.20
-.15
-.10
-.25
-.30
-.50
67 and 0 downforce
45 and 45 pressure
Slicks
(These are Wazza's, thx dude!)

My question: When you do you shift, when rpm hits 8000?
So far my fastest time is 2:05:00 offline (Btw, i can't hit 200 Mph)
B4 I started goin on this board: 2:12:00 (You guys are gr8 )

[Cheyenne]

Hi, Chaos_A!

I'm using
1 -50
2 -40
3 -25
4 -20
5 -15
6 -25
R 0
F -50

DF 40/15
TP 45/45
Slicks

I've included two replays here. One is a Zone run that reaches 247mph (right before I start braking in the train station) and an Autobahn run that reaches 230mph (right through the tollbooths). In both of these runs I give several blasts of the horn whenever I reach 200mph (and in the zone run, another set of blasts when I hit 240mph in the train station).

I shift the car at about 7700-7800 rpm, as I think it actually hits the rev limiter just before 8000. shifting early is much, much better than shifting late and hitting the rev limiter, imho.

Hope this gives you some kind of an idea on where you can hit these speeds. It certainly is possible. All it takes is lots and lots of practice!

Congratulations on the speed you are finding. There is more to discover and you look well on your way!

[Wazza]

awww u found the gears I use..

those are [SK]Mores...


my car hits 238mph maxed out.. and good acceleration.. fastest ever, was 251mph/404km/h with an old setup of mine, and 30/0 df...

[Wazza]

[LR]Klappi also uses the same gears as me... damn that guy.. hehe

Chey's gears are just slightly stretched versions of mine... I bet they are fast.......


anywa, good luck man, with beating ur current 2:05.00, which I may say, isnt that bad at all..

[VQ]

Hey wat game R U guys talking about?

[Cheyenne]

We're takling about Electronic Arts' "Need for Speed - Porsche"!

And, yes, definitely, Chaos_A, as Wazza says...

anywa, good luck man, with beating ur current 2:05.00, which I may say, isnt that bad at all..

Oh, Chaos_A, are you using the "Digital" Speedometer readout? I'm not sure but I think there's some accuracy issue (?) with the analog one .

[Chaos_A]

Aw man!!!! Yea Chey, I am using analog. I switched to digital. I hit freggin 225mph in the tool booth. Thats weird how analog is not accurate. I feel stupid now, lol. Anyways, I am gettin 5's consitently now, just have to keep tryin :-) Thx for the help!! Where would I be w/o you guys, back at 2:12:00

[Cheyenne]

Great, Chaos_A!

Congratulations on your run @225mph!

Please, don't feel stupid. There are a lot of things in the game that don't really make much sense (downforce is certainly one issue! Gearing of "race versions" is another! ).

I got brought into the game by two very great racers. We used to lan race quite a bit (the game is fabulous on a lan with CD on!) so I was just informed about many of the strange things in the game. Still, I feel I missed out on a lot though, the learning process. I was "given" my first "garage" to get me up to speed quickly. I've been playing now just over six months, I believe, and am only now starting to seriously experiment with setups. I'm finding more speed all the time. "Speed" is out there, we just have to go out and find it!

[D_Man]

You certainly can't go wrong following Chey's advice.

I might try those gears too Chey. I need all the help I can get

Dave

[heinrick]

Great thread, folks.

A stupid question I've had, do any of you actually use 6th gear in this car? The times I've used it the rev's have gone way down and so has the speed.

Thanks for all the advice about gear ratio's. I seem to be locked in the 2:12 level (pb 2:09 once!). Any of you have any advice on what's required to drop it down to the next level (2:05 or so). Aside from practice, does anyone remember if there was a particular area of focus that paid off.


Heinrick.

[(AR)Göran]

Nope i just use 5 gears, was only using 4 before but 5 works better i think.

[Domagoj]

Okay, okay, here's a Zone lesson.

The very first thing you need to know is the fastest route. You start out, then go left into the alley when the road dips, so you have to brake early there. Then, exiting the alley, you obviously go left onto the main road again (the only way avaliable), and from there, it's plain sailing, since you know about the tunnel route at the end. I'll go into severe detail throughout here for you.

First of all, go hard from the start of the race until about 315-316kmh (197mph?), then slam the brakes on when you have 2 posts on the right before the dip, plus maybe a carlegnth or two to get used to SLAMMING the brakes on at the last possible moment, yet making the turn (you'll want to brake to about 275kmh, more or les, but less is fine when learning the track, so maybe start braking a tad earlier too). Don't be concerned with getting these speeds dead on in the initial stages of your mastery of the track - go a tad slow to get used to the uneasy/random feel of it, and know yo can't do it consistently - some things are always random, and NFSPU record-setting is one of them - especially on Zone,m which in my opinion is one of the very hardest tracks in NFSPU, and in any NFS game - the "advanced" dissifulty it gets is a crock is SH.. - it is probably the most gruelling slosh-fest in the game to get ultra-near perfect runs on.

Next you want to keep in mind speed markers. It's posible to take the left into the alley at around 270kmh (168-170mph), and the speed after coasting around the edge, (VERY close to it), can vary from 273-267kmh (170-166.8/167), it seems random at times, but anyways, then you can be going 282-285 (est 176-178mph) on the right hander after that (where you JUST barely miss that metal/concrete base of the "post" on the left side), and then, it's good to use the steam from manholes as markers, the first of which (moment you enter tthe actual alley) I see being possible at no more than around 305kmh as you pass over it (303-305kmh/-190mph usually if you nail the entry into the alley). You want to hit about 317kmh/198mph in 4th gear just as you make the left hander around the yellow ramp edges, then the moment you hit that 317/198 you want to throw it into 5th, with emphasis on changin gears the moment you see 317/198, and trying to keep that preceding left turn smooth, and to the inside, with minimal or no tire screetch.

Now you pass over the next steam-from-manhole, and this is at around 331-333kmh/206mph I think (and the time here is around 37.4s, at best, with 37.6-37.8 being a "decent" pace (by WR holders' standards). Then you'll want to keep it floored (and get to the left, then crank right parallel with and close to the left concrete barrier that presents itself somewhat blindly) right up until just before the boardwalk, and even though Klappi (1:54.37 WR holder) lets off a tad before I do, I urge you to try holding on for an extra 0.1-0.2s over what he does (accelerating RIGHT up until 1 carlegnth from the bw), then you have to be very delicate entering and exiting the boardwalk. Sure, go a bit easy at first, but if you want a chance at a 1:55 or 1:54, you must master every thing I am mentioning.

The boardwalk is one of the main points on this track to nail if you want a good time (1:55-1:54 - well, a 1:56-1:55 let's say - a 1:54 offline has only been done by Klappi, OST-LQ, and myself). Now, Klappi takes the entry tight, and stays tight to the right side of the bw, this necessitating coasting and pretty hairly exiting of the bw, which requires going to at least the middle of the alley after the bw to set up for the left hander, which you coast into in 5th, hopefully being set up wide enough so you can clear that lefty with a bit of room to spare, and can accelerate out of it a tiny bit early, instead of waiting until after the concrete wall (on the right side at the exit of the lefty) to throw it down into 4th and start accelerating again.

Now, my approach on the boardwalk differs from, and is actually faster than, Klappi's. I go right up until the start of it fully accelerating, but then I aim to let the car go to the middle of the bw instead of how Klappi stays on the right side with no room to breathe (well, that wasn't him doing that on porpose, not much at least - this game is almost all reaction, and that part was a tad slower than it could be, but hey he does have the record, doesn't he? . I do it to the middle because it lets you get into the center of the alley a little earlier (and a better angle, plus at a faster speed, since you're accelerating until just before the bw, when you have to coast). So, at that point, you get over to the middle or JUST to the right of the middle of the alley after the bw, and then coast, with an early, gentle, severely controlled steer to the left, trying to BARELY miss the concrete barrier there, and not entering the turn too early, since you will either skim that left concrete barrier, or be forced to the outside right at the exit of the turn, which will either slow your exit or cause you to crash if you come up short/try to accelerate when your line forbids it. Anyhow, the speed Klappi has on exit (and I've done this, so I can be almost accurate in my estimation), is perhaps 311-312kmh/195mph, which is because of the bw (boardwalk) line, and subsequent scrambling for a good left turn afterwards. I have managed this lefty's exit at 315-317kmh/197-198mph, this because I didn't drift all the way to the right concrete barrier on the exit - I began turning early, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, I had been far enough to the right - past the middle of the alley - after exiting the bw. Although that faster exit and faster speed entering the bw should make for a good 0.2s or so advantage over Klappi's run, it still pales in comparison to what lies ahead, and I still haven't been lucky enough to fluke a fantastic finish, but that we'll discuss in a second.

After that 311-317/195-198mph left exit, throw it into 5th again as soon as you see 316-318kmh/198mph, and go to about 325kmh/203mph - being greedy for even 1 or 2 kmh more here can cost you dearly, and the 327-328/204mph speed is probably all you'll get safely even if you nail a 315 exit from that previous turn. Anyhow, you have to slam on the brakes, and cut the the inside, precisely mimicking Klappi's technique here - he basically takes that entry and exit of the next 2 turns PERFECTLY, so you have to brake from 325 or so down to maybe 280-282/175-176mph, and SLICE to the inside, BARELY missing the corner, then that's the only way you'll be far right enough to take the next turn sharp and early, at about 270kmh/168-169mph throughout (although I usually find myself losing a bit of speed halfway through the left turn since it's a total fluke what kind of a setup righty you accomplish before that). Anyhow, 4th gear is maintained this whole time (learn this first, don't bother learning the slower 3rd downshift, then re-learning it in 4th - just "start at the top"). By the time you enter the "pipe straight", you'll see the pipe come out of the ground on the right, and at this point, if you've absolutely nailed the last section, you should be seeing 317-318kmh/198mph, perhaps even 319-320kmh/199mph RIGHT at the beginning of that pipe, at which point you throw it into 5th. Now, the first bump will be taken at 330+kmh/206+mph if you have good speed (333kmh/208mph perhaps max), but anyways, the moment you get in the air, let off the gas, but wait until you're already in the air for a microsecond, then this lets your rear tires keep spinning a bit, then let off the gas until JUST before you land, and when you re-accelerate, the time it takes for your input to reach the rear wheels should be timed so it matches perfectly with tthe landing, (or safely - starts accelerating the millisecond AFTER you land). Anyhow, the same goes for the next bump, which is usually at 335-336kmh/209-210mph, and then after landing, go until about 340+ (342/213+mph usually for me, I think), and then SLAM the brakes on at right around the end of the fence on the left - start braking maybe a carlegnth before the end of it - or maybe 2 carlegnths if learning.

Now comes the transition onto one of the hardest parts of the track - the "310 sweep". After slamming on your brakes briefly there, you should be doing 318-320kmh/199mph (maybe 322kmh/201mph or so just after finishing braking), and then enter the right setup turn wide, and go tight, so you barely miss the "oil container" there on the right. Then this is a tricky part - and randomness prevails on EVERY TURN OF EVERY TRACK IN ANY NFS/RACING GAME, so don't get discouraged if it seems it never, ever goes to plan, because it DOESN'T! Just remember that EVERY record by ANYONE is a TOTAL FLUKE, and that's all - some people have just learned to stick with it and THEY GET MORE FLUKES, but it's ONLY because they never gave up - and again, they might never have fluked anything, but with ONE FLUKE an entire procession of events may follow that allow one to master one track, then another, then a whole game, then all NFS games (as somehow happened to me).

Anyways, on that "setup" turn, you want to be at maybe 312-311kmh/195mph going past that oil container, then come to the inside, but NOT too early, or else you will smash into the corner of the wall on the right side a few yards down. So, staying in 5th, coast around there, going about 309-308kmh/193mph when you pass the apex (inside leftmost part of left turn), and HOLD ON FOR A MOMENT MORE with the coasting, then shift down, and you should see it being at about 302-303kmh/189mph (the slowest point of the turn) as you being re-accelerating through the last half of that turn, and a bit wide through the first part of that last half is good, but try to come to the inside, or if only at the middle/just left of middle by the time you go over the lip with a pretty good angle to the left a bit, but accelerating furiously until the lip - then the same thing again with letting off the gas a tad and re-applying it EXACTLY on landing, and this can be a landing of about 307-308kmh/192mph at best (from my experience), then "make sure" you've (hopefully) left enough inside angle after landing so you can cut to the inside right of that right turn without hopping the sidewalk and being thrown into one of the "rectangular pillar bases" on the left side. From here, you go until about 317-318kmh/198-199mph again in 4th, then throw it into 5th 0.2s before the next lefty, so it's easier to take, plus you exit the turn faster, at around 326-327kmh/203-204mph at best. Then try to stick to the right, but use the whole right half of the track for the next two right turns, setting up at about mid-track (a bit to the right of that for me), then crank right on the second righty so you barely miss the other "oil container" on the right, and then I usually come in a tad early, with as fine a left turn as possible - and this turn is exited at around 352-353kmh/220mph if using a taller 5th gear, and around 355-356kmh/222mph if using Klappi's 380kmh/237.5mph 5th gear. On this turn I don't even screetch my tires. Klappi does, and it must cost him a good 0.1s or more, but I am still the one chasing his time .

Now comes the top-out section. After that "353" lefty exit, stick to the right, but allow yourself about a car's width from you to the right edge, and when the road goes right, try to slip in there to gain an extra 0.05s (or some utterly miniscule amount of time), then, going over the "lip" there, try to take it on the left side as you exit/land it, and again, let off the gas here for a moment, but this one's the least airtime of all the "lips" so you can let off for the shortest time. This one I usually land at something like 361-262kmh/226mph with the tall 5th gear, or 364-365kmh/228mph with Klappi's setup. It's realy almost perfectly even, between Klappi's setup and my own, but in the tunnel I like seeing 389kmh/243mph (max possible with good entry speed, plus enough time to brake - maybe 386-387kmh/241-242mph is better though - I still have to master that "final dip" at the end...), however Klappi's setup makes not only the preceding turns before the final tunnel a bit faster, but the boardwalk and the turn after it is a tad easier, plus the speed entering the boardwalk can be 1-2kmh faster, maybe 3kmh if nailed. So, the safest (and possibly best) way to go is Klappi's gearing, but I'll probably try both ways a few hundred more times before I'll make any assessment as to which is best - but right now they seem a dead tie - maybe that's what they are... One last thing about the tunnel section - to lessen the likelihood of a "hop" and slight loss of speed going over the "curb" at the beginning of the tunnel, come at the curb from the left, going slightly to the right - it works almost every time for me as a "speed guarantee", so I highly reccomend that for a good 0.25s savings...

Anyways, this leads us to THE crux of the entire track - the setup for the final "dip". JUST after the clock goes over your head in the tunnel, SLAM the brakes on and go to the right wall to set up for the lefty - making sure you brake constantly, and go a bit slower than you might feel like doing - then come left and barely miss the inside edge of that turn, and now the final judgment - DO NOT go too far left after clearing the inside edge of the tunnel's exit - carefully scrutinize Klappi's replay over and over to see that he really doesn't set up all that wide there he goes almost straight through the dip - and he FLUKES that last dip at near-perfect pace - I'd guess almost 280kmh/175mph, but I might be wrong/exaggerating.

That last dip is what cost me the record, but I hadn't ever nailed it up to that point anyways, and it's not possible to "learn it". You have to FLUKE IT - plain and simple. I'm going to try for 270kmh/169mph (a "safety buffer") through there (that might be closer to what Klappi manages it at - but it's still a fluke either way), but on my 1:54.81 run (damage on, as always with me ), I smashed the right wall after the dip (miraculously even making it past the wall to the left, which usually stops me dead in my tracks if I'm too aggressive), and after that right wall smash I was only at 221kmh/138mph or so, a whopping 50+kmh/30+mph slow, and guaranteed a faster pace than 1:54.37 until that point, but hey, this is THE toughest spot on any track, probably, so that's not a loss at all - the only gain here is a TOTAL FLUKE, as I've said so may times.

Well, that does it. Of course the number one thing to do is PRACTICE. You can be handed everything on a silver plater, the setups, the exact speed markers, everything but the actual record, but if there's no effort, there will be no results.

Here is THE setup to use for Zone. I don't care what anyone tells you. This is the way to go. Hell, any time the record holder's setup is made avaliable, YOU TAKE IT IN AN INSTANT, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

Klappi's setup is -50, -35, -20, -15, -10, (-25, -50, -50), 80/0df, 42/45 tires.
My "backup" is -50, -35, -20, -15, -15 (-25, -50, -50), same 80/0df, 42/45 tires.

The speeds attainable by these gears are 145kmh/, 218kmh, 265kmh, 320kmh, 380kmh, and I'd say the backup 5th gear has about 420kmh/ in store...

As for having some fun with 0/0df, I just tried some of that today after reading Wazza's fun runs, and got a top speed of 406+kmh (253.75mph is 406.00kmh, so maybe I hit 254mph ), and I did a complete run of 1:57.90, but that one lacks a bit, and I can say for sure a 1:56.99 or thereabouts is BARELY possible with 0/0df. One more thing - on the 406kmh run, I was only going about 395-397kmh/247mph before the "dip" in the tunnel, and on another run, I hit 400+kmh/250+mph before going over the lip, but then hit the right wall throwing it into 4th for some high sreaming braking (I was going for the time record, not the top speed record, and I was very easily on a 1:57.49 pace). That pace could conceivably topped 410kmh if I'd just kept it floored to the wall, so I'd estimate the max. speed possible around there to be maybe 411kmh/256+mph (also, it's random whether or not you land well there and continue at that pace or if you'll lose a few ticks of speed, so it was the better choice to go for the time record, but I screwed it up good). In trying to deduce the top speed of my "backup" 5th gear, I only checked the rpm a few times, and it seemed to be at about 7350-7375rpm on the two 404kmh and 405kmh/252-253mph runs (I did more runs to try for even faster times, plus I wanted a pretty flawless run on the rest of the track up to that point, which the 406kmh/254mph one ended up being).

Now, I can say for sure that you shouldn't only use the best known setup, but this (Klappi's) setup will also noticeably free up some jittery spots, and make the whole thing a whole lot smoother, even if you were to run similar times to what you run now.

About that part where I mentioned the "354kmh/221mph" lefty exit and sticking to the right on the next turn for an 0.05s advantage, this is actually a very important practie. It's not about that one turn, or one kind of turn, or anything. It's that one turn IN THAT ONE MOMENT, but it's really about pristine control of the car, and at the same time the most relaxed control possible (that's pretty much bogus to say "relaxed", but when you see a record run, it does appear relaxed - it's letting the car take over and you are just a part of it -"passive" - but at the same time the tension is extreme, especially when you're on a record/personal best pace, so that's always something popping up that might cost you the record).

I'll give you one big secret of mine. I drag all my HUD components to the middle of the screen, about one quarter of the way up from the bottom. Perhaps a bit higher. The optimum seems to be to have all the displays about 2 inches below the horizon line of the road, and make the speed the top middle thing, with the tach below it (I recently switched to a digital tach also, and this seems a little more precise too - I always though the GT1 revved to 8,000, and then it supposedly makes top power at 7,500rpm, but it actually only revs to 7,500rpm!!). Anyhow, I put the speedo, tach and gear, one above the other, in the center of the screen, then damage display on the left, lined up nice, then time and record/last lap on the right (record/last lap shows the record segment time when racing on a segment, and the last lap when racing a track - setting anything up for that one only applies to the track laps, for the segments it's always the same). If you want to stay with an analog tach, then put the gear under the lap record/last lap. This also looks more symmetrical, since the 3 readouts on the right will be around the same size as the damage diaplay on the left, and the tach is taller than either of them, so it looks very nice, but I think I'm set on an all-digital HUD now...

Anyways, with this HUD setup, I have no reason to look all the way to the left or right or top or bottom for some specs - just a light glance right below where I'm looking already, and back to the road - it makes noting speed for anyone else much easier, and, more importantly, it allows you to check how your speed/elapsed time is at any "marker" you might know. I am usually more concerned with the speed readouts at certain markers (like the 317-320kmh/198-199mph pipe surfacing at the start of the pipe straight), but some of the time checkpoints are good too (although for Zone I usually only look at the "second steam" to see how close to a 37.5 I'm running at that point).

Of course don't expect to be running with the top dogs in one afternoon (or any number of afternoons), but to expect to see about a 10s drop in your time if you REALLY stick with it. I can almost guarantee you a 1:56 if you have the determination to savagely dismiss the obstacle that is the greatest challenge in NFS5 - Zone. This will cost you far more than just time and effort - it will cost you your sanity, but in the nicest way. Just remember there is no difference between genius and insanity - it's just a lapse of regular hinderance, where anything is possible.

Best of luck, and BEST OF FLUKES!!!

[jtace]

Now that's the guy I remember from Need for Better Speed.

Welcome aboard Domagoj, what a first post.


I'll go back and read it now.

[Wazza]

dude.. yes... great post.. havent read all of it yet.. but sounds great...


i heard about u being very fast... cant remember who i was talking to... Klappi, or AS.. or someone else..

[Wazza]

I never actually put much effort into Zone... once, [DR]AS, used my same setup.. an older one.. and i had a 1:57.3 aroundabouts.. and he bettered my time by 0.1 sec or less.... and we were all around same as klappi.. and then this well known setup came.. around May/June last year I think.. thats when Klappi, suddenly increased his GT1 times by 2 seconds... and i keep hearing now, this setup sucks... lol..... other people i know have claimed to have mmuch better.. which i do beleive... my mate, Alex / [SK]Rad-AL, Radic-AL, or the NFS-PU mechanic.. always says he has the best setups... now i raced Auvegne 2 days ago.. did 2:32.43 on 2nd attempt in Gt1.. a couple of errors... going wide etc.. a bit of grass.. but Alex, has got 2:31... and he admits to me, im faster than him, and he tried the 'setup' of Klappi, and was 2 sec slower... he says its lacking high rpms in 4th and 5th... not enough pulling power or something..

lemme say.. 1:53 is possible.. wonder who will be first to do it..
when I get a wheel one day, sure I'll give it a go.. my best time was only 1:55.71, with a bang... not that great.. using my dumb joystick... Mazkx is another good racer..... hes been ripping up some times... but he doesnt seem to like ZOne.. only 1:55.78 offline.. hehe.. he hates being slower than me. He got a very nice time on MC1 fwd, 58.09 in 95 Turbo... and on MC5 bkw did an equally nice 44.50 offline... my best ever online was 44.62.. which was until recently the best ever... ... and then [CR]SPID, and Mazkx both beat it... and then i went offline.. raced it.. 1st go.. on 2nd lap, did a 44.15... .. so that was a nice achievement.....


anyway, Domagoj... have u ever raced on the servers?
the car physics vary between online and offline... people seem to know more about it than me.. but what I noticed on Norm bkw... offline, i very easily did a 2:08.18, in Gt1, and on the "jumps" or even humps in the road, i was getting little or no air... then online, in the same setup, these normal GT1 gears, and 100/0 df, my car was bouncing everywhere... getting extra air then normal.. making me crash... and my best time was only 2:10.40 starting last....
only tracks where i can go faster online, is the MCs..... wall bang mayhem... the cars can take greater impact from walls, and lose less speed than offline. This equals faster lap times..

anyway... thats my 2 dollars (inflation!)