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Good shifting is just as important to being fast as pressing the throttle in sim racing. But its often overlooked.

This is what a bad downshift, a decent downshift and a great downshift look like. Can you spot the difference?
When I was a rookie,, i was taught that i needed to downshift and use engine braking when i wanted to corner. Now this may be true for driving on the streets, but on the track, this was actually making me slow.

The engine is meant to increase your speed, not decrease it. That’s what brakes are for. Good drivers downshift during the approach to a corner, simply for optimum acceleration out of the corner. All that engine braking achieves is upsetting the balance of the car.

Not only was I using engine braking to slow the car, but my upshifting was all wrong. I was shifting whenever my car got to redline, thinking, yeah the car is loud so i must be going fast right? WRONG… for most cars. To get the perfect upshift, and go as fast as possible, you need to to time it perfectly. Otherwise, you’re not going to be using your car to it’s full potential.

So can you perfect the art of shifting? Let’s start with upshifting.
When shifting up for maximum acceleration, you need to know the engines characteristics. In this 86, the torque peaks just above 5000rpm, whilst power peaks at around 6500rpm. And whenever we shift up there’s a split of 1800 rpm between gears.
Therefore, if we shift up at 6500, the revs will drop back down to 4800, and we will be accelerating through peak torque, to peak power. This range between both peaks is where the engine will operate most effectively, resulting in maximum acceleration.
However, you shouldn’t be aiming to stay in this range all the time. Sometimes, it can be faster to short shift. For instance, if there’s a corner that’s taken in second gear leading onto a straight. You can shift into third before the corner, so you don’t waste time time on the straight.
But, It can also be faster to leave the car in gear. If you’re approaching the end of a straight, and you’re almost out of that optimum range from earlier, it’s usually faster to leave the car in gear and rev it out than changing gears.
Downshifting is a little more in depth, but even more critical to going fast. Remeber the TSRB SPEED SECRET from earlier. One of the most common errors i see drivers make is trying to downshift whilst turning into a corner. As the driver lets out the clutch, the driving wheels lock up momentarily, and the car starts to spin. However, even in a straight line a bad downshift can lock your driving wheels, unsettle the balance of the car and slow you down.
So how do you do a good, smooth downshift?
The smoothest of smooth downshifts occur when the engine revs are increased by briefly stabbing the gas with your right foot. This is called blipping the throttle, or rev matching. This matches the engine and wheel speed.

However, The tricky part is doing this whilst braking, unless you have a third leg. Ooh cheeky.
This requires a technique caled “heel-and-toe” downshifting.
To do this, you need to begin braking with the ball of your right foot on the brake pedal, whilst keeping a small portion on the gas pedal.
Whilst braking, depress the clutch with your left foot and downshift.
Still braking and with the clutch still depressed, roll your right foot at the ankle, quickly pusshing or blipping the throttle.
Then, quickly, but smoothly ease out the clutch, bleed off off the brake, and enter the corner.
There isn’t a successful race driver in the world who doesnt heel and toe on every downshift. Matching the engine and wheel speed is critical to a smooth downshift. And that, is how shifting properly can make you faster.
If you learned something new today, you might like this video, in which I teach you how to drive slow cars fast.

Hit the like, and maybe even subscribe button if you enjoyed the video!

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