rec.autos.simulators

I can figure out to set top gear to give me 12500 rpm at the fastest
point on the course. The manual then suggests initially choosing gears
in "1000 RPM increments" (what the heck does that mean?). So I haven't
tweaked much beyond 5th and 6th (5th seems more useful on the road courses.

I did try coming up with the magic constant so that RPM * gear ratio * K = mph
And then I figured I'd try this interpretation of 1000 RPM increments:
if 6th gear gives 12500 rpm at some speed, then make 5th gear give 13500 rpm
at that same speed (not that you would ever drive at that speed in 5th) and
so on.  I haven't noticed if it has made any difference.

--

My approach on ovals is quite different from what he describes above.
6th gear should rev out at peak rpm at top speed (12500 with Ford),
that's obvious. But to be FAST on ovals, you may want 4th and 5th gear
really close to 6th, since most of your time you will be running at
those higher speeds. Then take 1/2/3 and spread them as far as you can
to get the car moving and up to speed. All my oval setups have a 5th
gear that is 0.1 or 0.2 off from 6th.

Road tracks are a totally different story.

Obviuosly - you MUST run manual shift to take full advantage of my oval
setup strategy, while on road couses it differs from track to track.

Peter

Not too too bad for a start, at least on ovals, but on road courses, you
want to try and see where you need the most power, ie., out of the
corners, and see where you will usually be in the gearbox at that time.
If you're always leaving a bunch of corners at near the same speed, you'd
want a gear that was nicely in the revs at that speed to get the best
acceleration out of that corner...