Manual, Sequential, Paddles: Our Community's Shifting Preferences

OverTake-Shifter-Poll.jpg
Different cars require different methods of shifting gears - at least in real life. While that is not necessary in sim racing, most of our community does prefer the authentic way.

Technology in race cars has come a long way. For the longest time, drivers had to work with manual H-shifters, but today, they are hardly found in modern track-bound machinery anymore. Instead, shifter paddles mounted to the steering wheel have become the norm - and that is reflected in sim racing, too.

When looking for new steering wheels, you would have a difficult time finding one without paddles even if you tried. And since the clutch in modern race cars is usually hardly a factor anymore, the need for a third pedal on the modern sim racer's rig is not exactly urgent anymore.

However, sim racing is an outstanding interactive museum for motorsport history, and as a result, there are plenty of cars to be driven that did not feature paddle shifters yet. The shifting methods can be broken down into three categories: paddle shifters, manual sequential, and manual.

Sebring-1966-Assetto-Corsa-Night.jpg

Most of our community would race this Ford GT40 with an H-shifter, like the real car featured.

Manual geraboxes (or transmissions) usually require a clutch pedal and an H-shifter to operate correctly, and learning to heel and toe on the downshifts with this setup is probably one of the hardest skills to learn in sim racing. Manual sequential sits in between this and the paddles - some cars that feature it still require some throttle and clutch on downshifts, but not on upshifts, and drivers simply pull a lever back to engage the next gear. Pushing the lever forward goes down a gear.

There is way more to this topic, of course, but let's finally dive into the question we asked a few days ago: What is your stance on shifting methods?

Poll Results: What shifting method do you use?​

AnswerVotes%
I use whatever the car has in real life98654.6
I always use paddle shift55630.8
I always use H-shifter1397.7
I always use sequential774.3
Something else492.7

The poll we ran on this topic showed a quite significant bias toward the authentic shifting method: Almost 55% of you answered that you use what the car you are driving actually has. To get as close to the feel of driving the actual real-life counterpart of the car on your screen or in your VR headset as possible, this is the way to go - and most of you want to keep it realistic in this regard.

However, in a competitive environment, every second counts. Paddle shifters have been introduced in real race cars for a reason - they take up less space in the cockpit, but they also make shifting a lot more convenient and gear shifts much quicker over the years. As a result, it is not really suprising to see the "always paddle shift" approach taking second place in our poll at just over 30%.

The other three options, namely "I always use sequential", "I always use H-shifter" and "Something else" were not very popular in the poll, meanwhile.

ACC-Nordschleife-Porsche-GT3.jpg

GT cars used to be prime examples for manual sequential gearboxes, but modern GT3 vehicles all use paddle shifters.

Our community name different reasons for their preferences. Those who run what the actual car has do so mostly for the immersion and fun factor of it, such as @Michael Krone. They mention that using manual sequential in a car that had it may be a bit slower than paddles, “but I’m here to have fun and more importantly, have an authentic-feeling simulation.”

Similarly, @J. J. McClure is all about trying to get as close to the real thing as possible, even down to further details. “Seat position as precise as possible, gear lever side, pedals hanging or lying down, sequential or [manual] shift, distance from steering wheel to gear lever.” Now that is dedication!

On the other hand, especially in competitive environments, it is all about being as fast as possible, which usually means paddle shifters. @JU-Racing uses this approach, but only sometimes – in offline races, they use an H-shifter, “because it just feels best in the vintage cars I mostly drive.”

For others, like @andrewaugust93, the decision to stick with paddle shifters is more about convenience: "Been in this hobby for a loooong time. Just tired of setting things up. Nowadays it's just brake and gas and [paddle] shifts to keep things simple." If you want to quickly get on track, ensuring the right shifter setup can be a hassle depending on your setup.

WRC-24-Expansion-Hyundai-i20.jpg

Modern WRC cars, alongside Australian Supercars, are the most prominent example of race cars that use manual sequential in 2024. Image: EA Sports

Meanwhile, @Johnny Speed aims for a somewhat realistic car behavior while still using paddle shifters and the automatic clutch: They edit the files of the car they are driving so it feels like there would be a throttle lift and slightly longer gear change "to 'simulate' using a manual gearbox with clutch. I am 100% offline with AI."

And then there is @Wipeout999 who does not really fit any category - except the DIY one, that is. They used to run paddle shifters, then built their own sequential shifter and are now hoping to one day build an H-shifter from a real gearbox: "I like tinkering so I don't care much if it's attractive or not. It gives me satisfaction and as long as it's functional I buy only wheels and pedals." We certainly cannot wait to see that build once it is realized eventually!

Also, keep your eyes peeled - @Pete Conway suggested a guide on how to get started with using an H-shifter in sim racing, including hardware - we will create something for this soon, so stay tuned!

Did you expect so many sim racers to stick to the accurate shifting methods of the cars they drive? Let us know in the comments below!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

As an "elderly citizen with heel and toe", I often wonder why I hesitated right up to 2010 to acquire a clutch solution (via the G27, and since 2020 with the TS300RS-GT + T-LCM + 2xT8HA, the one for hand brake via alternative hack).

From that point it's been point of no return here.
Even in some cases where the cars actually have paddles.

As a curiosity, I remember the AC Corvette C5.R mod (Legion's or RSS'? In the writing I don't remember, I'm sometimes on the Lord's field when I want to credit original modders) as being locked to paddles, of which didn't make any sense to me. Luckily it was easily derivable via data /drivetrain.ini in order for proper H-shifter, of which feels far more more natural with heel and toe. And just that delightfully wild version of the C5.R sent me back to my driving instructor's 1985 BMW 316i (E30), just with quite more horses to rein in.

Being a simmer "from the old school" it feels much easier to me with H-gear and clutch for a vast number of cars.
And more important - IMO it adds quite a bit more of immersion.
Another case with modern GT3 or modern Prototypes. The paddle response is quite essential here.

So it's not that I don't like paddle cars, there's just an ocean of heritage of which is so fully joyful to dig in with H-shifter + heel&toe.
 
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I only have paddle shifters on my G29

The Simagic DS-8X Shifter is one of the last parts i will upgrade to
 
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Some people just doesn't have Hshifter, and clutch pedal. Some people just never drives cars in sim that require Hshifter. I've visited "simracing academy", none of the rigs had H shifter, and they almost never drove the cars requiring them.

To me as a historics guy it is slightly painful. As niche as simracing is (it is pretty large niche by now probably). Definitely less than half of simracers holds any interest in anything that isn't fully present, or not very old. The interests drop down severely about anything that didn't have downforce and slicks. Early 70s is where interests are dropping down severely, and by anything under 1960 there will be least people interested - try to sell drum brakes for people, not even those who call themselves enthusiasts might desire to experience brake fade.

I was not happy to find how many historics enthusiasts might not even use clutch, might not even use h-shifter, might not even use FFB wheel at all... They just doesn't experience huge chunk of the car experience offered in simulation. It is mind blowing when it happens voluntarily. Besides that not everyone is good driver, skills also limits amount of experience, some people just has lots of it locked away from them, and no nerfing of cars dynamics and difficulty will bring it to them, it will just cut off top end of experience, and take it away from capable guys.
 
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There's one more thing about paddle shifters... They come included with the wheel. H-Shifter is extra cost that not everyone wants to take.
Yup. I did not have a H Shifter for years as I couldn't afford one. Then, thanks to having very large feet and the need of a stiff brake, I could never execute HnT properly until I had a pedalset that allowed me to, and I had to go the DIY route for it. I still do it in the reverse way (heel on the brake, like Ricky Rudd) due to a lack of proper pedal faces. A set of cheap ones that should do the job just arrived from AliExpress. I will try to mount them this week.
 
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I get that people who mainly use modern track cars don't feel the need for more than two pedals and paddles.

Personnaly, I will always use the correct setup for the car I'm driving. Being a drifting and rally fan, I had to get shifters and a handbrake very early for immersion; then I became more competitive but my habits stayed the same.
I could be faster in rally by using a lower rotation angle and paddles but there would literally be no point.
 
Personally, I would have chosen an option like, “Prefers h shifting with a clutch and dislikes when h shifting is not offered as an available option.” The fact that we were limited to always using one choice lead to inaccurate results in my opinion.
 
VR user, so pedal shift always, for not fishing around for the invisible knob.
 
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Maybe a lot of us just use what we have. I've always had to sim on a budget. I had my TSW2 wheel and pedals for probably at least 15 years before I finally switched over to a Moza R5 about a year ago, not ever even trying FFB before, it was just too expensive. I have to say its sort of more immersive, but I didn't have room for a clutch. It would have been very cool to have one. I've driven manuals on trackdays and even in SCCA for awhile, so I miss it a bit thats for sure.
I also miss my sequential shifter from my TSW2. I much preferred that to these noisy paddle shifters. But the other thing is setup time. If I want to race I have to move my keyboard then get out the wheel and FFB unit from under the desk, and then clamp them on and connect them to my PC, and also disconnect an put them away when I'm done. I may add the separate shifter later, jut have to wait and see.
 
Some people just doesn't have Hshifter, and clutch pedal. Some people just never drives cars in sim that require Hshifter. I've visited "simracing academy", none of the rigs had H shifter, and they almost never drove the cars requiring them.
Honestly there's no point. H-shift and clutch in the sim world is nothing like it is in real life.

If you can already drive manual then I guess going through the motions can add some immersion, but if somebody has no experience of driving a manual and they think that driving H-shift and clutch in a sim is preparing them for doing it for real then they're very much mistaken.
 
What I wish this poll meant for developers is that they would open up the transmission choices. Moreover, every single game allows for the use of an automatic transmission in lieu of the actual transmission. But, very few games allow for the use of a manual h shift transmission with clutch. I would love the option to use manual h shift transmission with clutches in every car. And, this is one of the main reasons I moved away from iRacing. Removing the manual transmission and clutch from the Mazda was borderline criminal in my opinion...
 
Honestly there's no point. H-shift and clutch in the sim world is nothing like it is in real life.

If you can already drive manual then I guess going through the motions can add some immersion, but if somebody has no experience of driving a manual and they think that driving H-shift and clutch in a sim is preparing them for doing it for real then they're very much mistaken.

I don't understand your attitude. Sounds like excuse to me. When you simulate something, it makes sense to you to use every item at your disposal to make the experience best as possible. Regardless if controls allign greatly with RL or not, you should be interested to choose option that gets you closest to the goal. If you refuse to use true shifting method with an excuse that it is not replicating everything best way possible, and then use something that gets you even further volunatrily, then there is a problem in your logic.

If we would follow your logic, we should just simply uninstal all simulations, because nothing there will ever be a substitute to real life, even if simracers would honestly demand it (which they don't, jast acts like they do). SO IMO we have to respect respect reality, and respect what is doable in simulation. But you have to respect reality first, because there is lots of silly billy stuff in simulations, that only naive guys can build their entire expectations towards RL, then they GET MASSIVE CRASHES. One day there will be a lawsuit towards simulations claiming that they are bang on accurate to reality, teaching people that they can get away with sillly things, which IRL - they can't.

Besides that you are wrong. There are a lot of cars that align to what is possible in simulation, to what is going on IRL with Hshifters. My 2013 Toyota Auris has nothing that my simracing gear and simulations can't prepare for. But maybe it is so because I respect my gear shifts in sim, as much as I do IRL, if I started being disrespectful in simulations, perhaps it would teach me poor gear shifts (rF2, hello). I will also drive happily 50s race cars that would have required double clutching IRL, without it in simulation, but I will not disregard them completely because there is no such feature.

IMO I think some simracers needs to get down a little bit from the sky down to reality. Using VR sets, craving for forcefeedback in every pedal and gears shifter. WHile it is a cool ambitions to have. It is a bit too much, technologically and practically. Just be more simple sometimes. I wish such ambitions about harware would be replaced with craving realistic simulations instead.
 
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IMO I think some simracers needs to get down a little bit from the sky down to reality.
I find that a bit ironic when you are acting as a gatekeeper to how others should be enjoying their games.
Your regular diatribes about how games and players are doing things wrong smacks of unrealistic expectations of what others want from what is meant to be a pleasurable pursuit.
You may not mean it to, but it comes across IMO as condescending.
 
I think it is equally condescending to be saying that simulations and hardware is not good enough to use. Damaging attitude to every historic content in simulations to advertise that you need super exact controllers to enjoy it.

No - you don't need advanced rig, with advanced hardware, VR and accurate steering wheel rim and dress exactly like RL driver to immerse yourself into simulation. What you need to experience car in simulation is: best hardware and software that is available to you, honestly simulated physics, drive the thing as respectfully as you would do it IRL and actually know what you are driving at least a little more than just a name and how it looks.

In case of how it is in rF2. You can simply not use clutch, because transmission model was never complete. IMO it is not an excuse to completely ignore the clutch. And also start shifting with paddles. I will be as condescending as it can get, and will say that you should use clutch and hshifter if you aim to immerse yourself and get best experience available. I will not be condescending if you don't use any of that because of some "smart" esport advantage, or just because a person finds it more enjoyable then - good luck, then have fun, could have more, but I guess it is none of my business. I know guys who are simracing very well by using controller, even making physics for cars... if it works for them, then it is all cool, but they do in fact have lesser experience than they could with very basic true controllers. No need to have some FFB Hshifter with FFB pedals with 100Nm steering servo with exact replica steering wheel and build it into exact car cockpit replica in your room.
 
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What you need to experience car in simulation is: best hardware and software that is available to you, honestly simulated physics, drive the thing as respectfully as you would do it IRL and actually know what you are driving at least a little more than just a name and how it looks.
That's what you need but others may feel differently and you defining it as irrefutable truth is as I said earlier gatekeeping.
 
VR user, so pedal shift always, for not fishing around for the invisible knob.
VR user here, too, and I have to admit that I get confused every time I run into that reasoning.

I don't know whether it's due I drive a car with a manual H-shifter + clutch and have driven all kind of vehicles with quite a variation of gear arrangement, inclusive the manual gears built into the wheel arrangement, such as e.g. the Citroën Dyane 4 or gear design as of the Massey Ferguson 35 tractor. Here I only "groped" for the gear when taking a seat, but once the feeling's there, it has always been a matter of adaptation for me.

To me there is about zero difference reality vs. VR. The feel/adjustment and the initially small groping is the same to me, regardless of whether it is 4, 5, 6 or 7 H-gear, skipping gears when downshifting + variable input handbrake.

However, I acknowledge (with a weeping heart) that this with the "feel" of the gear stick and gear travel may probably disappear as H-gear disappears from the street scene.
And sometimes thinking 20 years ahead and what new generations would think about trying something they've never tried in reality and the natural feeling you might thereby miss. Maybe my thoughts are just too dark clouds and that in reality there is a bright sun to look forward to for simmers striving for oldfashioned authenticity.
 
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I think it's a to each his own. I prefer to use whatever the real car had. Some are in it to win it and will use whatever helps them to do that. I prefer to get as close as I can to experience what it was like to actually drive it.

Either way is fine. BTW, I use the Simagic DS-8X simply because it's a decent shifter, and I can switch between H and Seq in a matter of seconds.

Someone mentioned that the clutch and shifters do not feel like the real thing. Yeah, neither does anything else we use.
 
Someone mentioned that the clutch and shifters do not feel like the real thing. Yeah, neither does anything else we use.
I think the point that I was trying to make is that if your only experience of driving paddle shift comes from a sim then there's good argument to be made that you could probably get in a GT4/3, modern sports car, or automatic and get it round a few laps without too much of an issue, as long as you're easy with the throttle. It other words this experience can translate to the real world.

On the other hand if your only experience of driving manual comes from a sim then the first time you try to drive a manual in real life is likely to end up with you stalling or kangarooing down the pit lane accompanied by the graunching sound of a gearbox in significant distress. H-Pattern shifting as it currently is in most if not all sims, and with current hardware, does not translate to the real world.

If you can already drive manual then yes, having an H-Pattern and clutch in sim can be more immersive as you simply apply your learnt muscle memory and it will work. If, however, you've learnt manual shifting in a sim then the first time you get in a manual car you'll find that you have to unlearn everything you've learnt and then relearn it in real life because your muscles have learnt the wrong thing.
 
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I understand the comment about it being a hassle to switch between H-pattern and stick shift. It sometimes takes ages. I really recommend the Fanatec shifter, switch with a push of a button. Really convenient and not too expensive!
 

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