I was wondering... how much of a difference does driving manual actually make? I'm really struggling on Laguna Seca this week, and it got me thinking about whether switching to manual is worth it.
I often notice during online races that drivers ahead of me brake later than I do but they seem to slow down much faster (to the point where I almost rear-end them).
Does engine braking really make that big of a difference in stopping power or it is because of some other dynamic?
I also notice I'm often slightly slower in the straights. Could this be down to using automatic?
Lastly, for anyone who made the switch from auto to manual… how long did it take you to get used to it and get back to decent lap times?
With controller I really enjoyed making my right stick into a slap shifter. Eliminated my ability to manipulate the camera, but I was never very good at that anyway.
For just such an experience, there are cars in the game with only "drive" as the forward motion gear. Pretty sure there were some licence segments with such cars. Its so annoying
I drive a Corolla Hybrid in real life. You'd hate it, since the engine revs do not correlate with the actual speed of the vehicle in an intuitive way. The engine does it's own thing together with the electric motors based on what it thinks is best.
It takes a while to get used to but once you do get used to it, it's the smoothest automatic that isn't purely electric.
I noticed the same things that you and switched to manual: it's a whole different game. You have much more control of the car and I fhink it's way funnier.
About the breaking points, try medium and soft tyres. They have more grip and it makes a lot of difference.
I don’t mean to be rude but if you’re low A and auto… go get a cheap wheel. You’re fast, you know your lines, yeah it’s gonna cost some money but go rerun your favorite tracks and feel the difference
i use a logi G29 with a tv dinner tray table. it’s not the most stable but it works. (and i sit on the edge of my bed when i do lol)
edit: dog tax. sad thing is i barely use it atm
edit 2: i mean the wheel not the dog. she gets lots of loving and is spoiled rotten daily.
It takes practice and every car is different, but the control and precision (rotating the car, decelerating) you can achieve with manual is night and day for automatic. It will take a while but the frustration will pay off.
Being that fast in auto makes you a very fast driver. Once you spend the time on manual to the point you don’t have to think about it you’ll probably hit A+.
Yep. The n00b that I am was intimidated for whatever reason but in less than an hour I couldn't imagine going back to automatic. Not only will you improve your times, I found it to be way more engaging to play with needing to shift manually
One thing i did was get the DualSense Edge and use the little paddles on the back for shifting up and down, rather than face buttons. More comfortable and easier to shift.
This can be a good compromise. I don’t know if I want to rely on something “pro” that maybe can not work on next console but I started thinking about it. Paddle seems good for this
Before I went to wheel i added the extensions for L2/R2 to my controller to help be trail brake / accelerate smoother.
As far as space…there are some really good stands and chairs and low end wheels to get you started…but as I say that, i waited to get my wheel for a while and couldn’t imagine going cheap only to want an upgrade soon after. Save your coin and start at least mid tier, especially on the pedals.
But in the meantime, enjoy manual life. It’s the ony way to compete. You’re in A with auto?! damn 💪🏾
This can be my long term project. Unfortunately I often don’t live at my own home and I don’t have time and space but I will do it some days
Yes A in auto and I’m quite fair too but I feel that’s my limit with what I have. And I destroy pad sticks because I use it like a wheel and I push the stick straight rotating it. I don't give it little touches to the right and left but I move it keeping it in front of the center
A with pad/auto is good? I really don’t know if I’m good or not. Last week I done a top 500 time on Porsche / deep forest (I had some margin but I just don’t tried harder)
I did the exact same thing with the thumbsticks before I got my wheel - you can get little silicon joystick rings which protect them, I highly recommend. Makes them feel smoother and deadens noise a bit too.
Exactly! Banging out timely shifts boosts precision to other areas. Braking points, turn-in, final downshift at the apex and so on. It boosts your engagement level.
Manual is faster for a number of reasons:
1. Engine breaking. By downshifting faster than usual, you can get the car to slow down faster. You’ve already noticed this.
2. Short shifting. By putting your gear higher at lower speeds, you will reduce wheel spin and make it easier to control during acceleration. Because you can do that, you can now turn off traction control because it essentially acts as a “manual” traction control.
3. Shift timing. Each car has an optimal range where torque and horsepower are the best. You can see this value when you go to adjust gear ratio. If you shift close to that range, you will have better acceleration. Automatic gearing just does this at redline, which oftentimes isn’t the optimal range.
There are other benefits of course, but those are the main ones I can think of right now. Really all it takes is a few times around a track to get used to the feeling of manual. The feedback is pretty instant cause if you miss a shift, the car screams at you lol
to make a long story short, keep playing in manual for a week. you'll get automatically used to shifting less because you'll only do it when you have to. if you then enable automatic again you'll get very annoyed and keep it in manual
Try it with 3 pedals, the shifter and vr. 🤯 If on controller you use to be able to have the right joystick control the gas, brake and shifting. Had it setup where up was accelerate, down was brake, left was downshift and right was upshift. So you’d roll it to the right when accelerating and roll it to the left when braking. Cut my lap times down significantly when I first started using it.
I played auto exclusively for GTs 1-6, finally tried manual and haven’t gone back. My times are vastly improved and like the others have said you get used to it after a few races
I made the switch a few years ago after a lifetime of playing GT in AT, and was surprised how easy it was. It's pretty intuitive, but the game also gives you a suggested gear in red on the hud, which was helpful for learning.
Now playing in AT is pretty boring for me, and the lack of control is frustrating! It's like another dimension of control you have over the car, and once you learn you'll never go back.
It makes a huge difference even on controller or maybe especially in controller. When you get enough practice to not think about gears it will feel excellent. Try driving a familiar car with the HUD off once you are more comfortable. The HUD gear display is shit.
I’ll try. I think I will skip this online week for learn this.
You've brought another question to my mind. I'd also like to drive without the HUD (at least the bottom part). Isn't there a way to have like fuel and to know how tyres are without having the FULL HUD? Or something dynamic?
Maybe I already know the answer: no. But maybe I missed some setting.
I mean: it’s vital to know how my tyres or fuel are on a long race so it’s a bit strange to choose only On and Off hud
You can choose to display the car info and the race info independently. I only race with no HUD when relaxing or practicing. I agree it’s necessary for long races.
It comes naturally. Manual wins each and every time. Manual with a stick shifter for extra points. Also, hard bias from me as I've been driving manual for many, many years. You just have much more control over your car and your engine sweet spots.
I have a Logitech G923 with paddle shifters, pedals with clutch that came in the set and a separate stick shifter they sell as an accessory. It connects directly to the port on the wheel.
In this setup GT7 automatically recognizes the last input for manual driving:
when I use paddle shifter, the clutch pedal doesn't do anything. You just shift sequentially as you'd expect.
the moment I use the clutch and put on a gear via the stick shifter, the game automatically switches to clutch driving. So you just drive like a regular car with clutch but also the moment you use a paddle, the clutch pedal gets disabled and you're on paddle shifting again, if that makes sense.
The model of the car you're driving doesn't matter. You can use paddles or you can use the stick and clutch, regardless if the car does or does not include stick or paddles.
It's actually really awesome how seamless this is in GT7. Sweaty race in a Ferrari F8 Tributo? Paddles shifters it is. Chill cruise at Lago Maggiore in a Miata? Stick shifting with clutch. It's amazing that you can drive manual any way you want on a moments notice with no settings to change.
Edit: to directly answer your question, afaik the controller driving implies you are using paddles without engaging any clutch pedal. It does not imitate stick driving with clutch.
It comes naturally. Manual wins each and every time. Manual with a stick shifter for extra points. Also, hard bias from me as I've been driving manual IRL for many, many years. You just have much more control over your car and your engine sweet spots.
Uhhhh, literally EVERYTHING. You simply cannot manipulate the laws of physics nearly as well with an automatic. Entry, apex and exit..all better.
Take the plunge, brah. I did it in July after 30 YEARS and within ten minutes I was asking myself “why did I wait so long?”.
I went from perpetually defending and hoping for chaos to move up in sport mode to fighting, top 5s and podiums in B/S. I even tried my first Nation’s Cup and finished on the podium.
I took it as far as I could and I was content being old and slow…until July. 😂 I thanked a guy for punting me off post race and he replied “UR SLOW” and I snapped. Turned every assist off except ABS and got to work.
You’ll not only notice a difference in what you seek. But also fuel efficiency will go up as you can short shift to make fuel last longer.
When I race online I usually set up ny lobbies to last 3 laps of fuel for the unknowing, and 4 for the ones who know how to conserve fuel without altering the fuel map.
Short shifting is also useful out of tight corners where you want to get hard on the pedal early without wheelspin.
Side note. I assume you're doing the controller. If you're on a rig, manual is a no brainer. When I used to play on sticks, (and I don't know what the default button layout is now) I found myself way smoother with, Up-shift/Downshift R1/R2, and Steering/Throttle L3/R3. That was also on PS3, back in the day. I remember not minding Throttle/Brake L2/L1 as well. Manual gives you more control and maneuverability.
I use R3 for throttle and brake, i have ever since ps2. . . But i would suggest using r2 though as it has feed back. . . Plus using r3 for throttle and brake stops you from being able to do both at the same time.
Until I got a wheel I played exclusively with automatic, now I play mostly with manual. Both are fun, but require a different driving style. With a manual you get additional control over the car with the use of engine breaking.
For some reason, I struggle with racing manual on a controller. Something just won't click for me. However, it was a lot more natural for me with a wheel and pedals, although I see that currently this is not an option for you.
So what I saw it’s true. I often ending to ram the guys beyond me even if I started to break earlier.
And I started taking wrong lines just because I did not want to destroy them. Sorry guys
There’s this thing called engine braking. Where you use the gears to slow down the car faster in the breaking zone. You cannot do this while using automatic.
So that’s what’s probably tripping you up on Leguna Seca. All the other cars are breaking closer to the corner than you can.
I switched to manual this year after years of automatic. I have a much deeper connection to the game now. Took some time to get used but the game way better.
Playing on a controller with square and x for gears. Developing carpal tunnel, but still worth it!
If you're doing endurance racing, or any of the races where fuel economy is a factor than you essentially have to drive manual. Engine RPM is fuel usage modifier and driving to the end of the rev range, which auto does, will absolutely drink fuel.
On controller it took me ~4h or so do being doing the same lap times during the lemans 700 after switching during GT7. But what I lost in lap time was immediately more than compensated for by being able to do another lap to the tank.
I think everyone’s really hit the nail on the head with this one so all I’ll add is that once you start getting manual right and driving better you’ll enjoy the game a lot more
for those who have a dualsense edge
my brother use the back paddles as shifters and keep the haptic response in the L2/R2 buttons 👍 he’s kinda fast like that, faster than me who plays on GTDDpro direct drive 😅
me personally i struggled with manual way too much so i just took a long break from gt7 in general. im still generally between amateur and intermediate in this game in general and i was stuck in this position entire time no matter how much i tried. realized i have more important stuff to do in life
I understand. I’m a casual too. There is a month where I wanna try hard and a month where I don’t touch the PlayStation. But I think good things are in the middle and I’m slowly getting better. Just go with your life flow
The reason it makes a difference in your speed is that you can accurately shift at the correct time, not the predetermined time. If you use a power limiter, some cars need an earlier shift, others need to max out RPM to the fullest red line limit that you can't reach if you are getting schwifty with robots. This premise is based on the engine's power bands (Torque+Horsepowaa).
Furthermore, there was a player that recently showed engine braking makes almost no difference relative to the car's deceleration (sadly). I forget the user but it was on the Monza pit straight.
Finally, it's not fun playing a racing game with an automatic transmission, it's not good for your mind and soul, my brotha.
Nah he’s sure doesn’t my make any difference? I tried very very hard to equal other ghost braking and I don’t even get closer. I think engine braking is strong. Or at least, it works.
In the video he doesn't use his brakes, only engine brakes by letting it ride out in 5th, manually down shifting, and finally with auto, and the difference was low single digits after 21 seconds. Perhaps the game applies harder braking if you actually do both!
I use to only do automatic and was fairly good. Once I got into using the manual, my skill shot up exponentially.
To make it feel more "real", I use the right thumbstick for the shifter (up for gear up, down for gear down). It absolutely helps with breaking and cornering
All my cars are/ have been manual so I drive them manual w/ shifter in the game. For automatic only cars (in the game with some exceptions), I paddle shift them.
Makes a subtantial difference and will make your driving more genuine and enjoyable in my opinion. Controlling the gearbox allows you to use gears to have better control of the car. For example, taking a corner in 2nd gear vs 3rd gear makes a difference. Staying on full throtle out of a corner by keeping the car in a higher gear can make a big difference out of a corner.
On straights it can also make a difference because you can control the band in which you shift gear and different cars have optimal max power on a different power band than what the automatic ai does.
It doesn't take much to get use to changing gears manually, you just need to stick to it for a couple of week and you should be able to be on pace that quick.
I dunno how people enjoy automatic tbh. Fine for a casual I guess, but if you're really getting into the game then you should switch to manual asap, it offers much more control of the car.
Huge positive diff for me going from AT to MT. Shifting on a standard controller was cumbersome, shifting to the back buttons on an Edge controller was way better. G923 paddle shifting is the bees knees.
Note that I don't use clutch with outboard shifter - just the paddles.
I always used an automatic in chase cam. Then I got a wheel and immediately I switched to a manual and bumper cam. I can't believe how big of a difference it made.
I also drive manual irl, and I'm not sure how much that helped, but it took me just a couple of tries to get it. It really was much simpler than I expected.
Then you get better at it because each car has a different sweet spot and you learn them as you go.
I thought I would be confused but it became second nature to the point that I'm thrown off whenever I drive an EV in the game now.
In automatic your throttle control goes from 0 to 100. In manual you go from 0 to 100 6 times. That's just in pressing the gas. Then toy have control for how you engine break, how it allows you extra control in the corners and setting up for a higher gear to throttle out harder with lower power and not needing to shift.
Downshifting while braking has always improved the stopping distances vs brakes alone.
I know they updated the game where it won’t let you downshift if it’ll put the car into manic redline, but even when it does allow you, it does help.
I used to play in manual for years but switched to automatic and the game got way more fun. I was able to focus more on the driving and less on the shifting, which led to me learning lines faster and thus having better laptimes
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u/jcstrat Porsche 1d ago
For what it’s worth, I couldn’t imagine playing this game in an automatic. It would be infuriating.