I’ve been playing on manual since forza 4, every time I watch a YouTuber play forza I see them using manual with clutch.
Is there some sort of advantage to using manual with clutch? Does flat-foot style shifting make the car go faster in a straight line?
Manual with clutch is generally faster. But whichever you feel more comfortable with and get more enjoyment from is the best choice.
And before people come on complaining that in real life, real race car drivers don’t need to use the clutch, this is a game, played on a control pad, sat on a sofa in a living room. Not a sim. And not real life.
Please! That’s a bunch of nonsense because I’ve beaten folks at the top of the tier who all use M/C and me just plain old M. With manual only I chose to have the TCU operate the clutch which can do it in a quicker more efficient manner than any human can. This is the reason that the pinnacle of motor sport does not bother with having its drivers operate a clutch during racing. There may be some millisecond gains when using the clutch in the game, but that still comes at a lag compared to someone who has mastered shifting with manual only. So all this talk about shifting with clutch being faster is totally unfounded as I’m proof that it’s not - check out my leader board times in the Spec race on Maple valley using a classic muscle car where I’m faster than RBWTritom who uses clutch and me just plain old manual shifting. That debunks that IMO!
That’s some horrible logic, just because you can beat someone with something doesn’t mean that it’s better. Put me in an F1 car and Vettel in an F2 car and he would beat me around a track, but that wouldn’t mean that an F2 car is faster than an F1 car.
If you want to “debunk” something by playing mythbuster, try actually learning how to use the clutch the “fast way” (aka the “silly unrealistic way”) and then compare your laps back to back.
Personally I hate using the clutch button as I find it to be a silly mechanic and I hate hearing the car the car bang off the limiter on shifts. Even not using it often and therefore not being completely in practice with it, it instantly helps my lap times out in basically any car with an H-pattern box.
Lol you can put vettel in a civic and me in an f1 and he’d still win. I would consider myself a great driver, better than most, but i dont think i could manage those renault’s. Most people think its just about going slow in and fast out, but those cars are totally different then your average gtlm car. But i like the comparison. Another way to look at it is that i let my 5 year old daughter race in fm7, with all assists on, i tell her let off the gas when its red, and all the way down when yellow or blue, and sometimes she can put down a better lap than me if her car is even a slight bit better.
The game definitely has neutral. Use an H-pattern shifter from Logitech, Thrustmaster and Fanatec and you can out a car into neutral.
Real life has nothing to do with the system coded into the game. The coding is the coding. Forza is not a hardcore simulation. There are plenty of simplifications in its calculations.
in real life, real race car drivers don’t need to use a clutch.
Depends on the car, gearbox and driver. Go look back at the V8 Supercars when they still ran a H-pattern (only changed to sequential about 10 years ago), most of the drivers would skip the clutch on upshifts but use it on downshifts, or would only use it on “diagonal” shifts (ie 2-3 and 4-5) and not on “straights” (3-4, 5-6) due to the longer shift time. Even with the sequential box they run now a lot of them still clutch-in on downshifts (unless they are left-foot brakers) and some even give it a little blip on upshifts too (despite there being a cut-off switch built in to the shift lever)
I think 10 years ago even the GT1 cars still used sequential gearbox which required pressing the clutch during downshifts, didn’t they?
What they did in V8SC makes sense because it’s far safer to skip the clutch on upshifts than on downshifts.
Forgot my answer
Depends on what you are using for a controller, I have a wheel, shifter, and 3 pedals so I kind of match the car I am driving. If I am in my little Porsche 944 I will use the manual with clutch and if I am in the Ford GT or similar with the paddle shift I would use the manual with no clutch.
I wanted to do that, but cars such as the GNX and the Camaro IROC-Z are fully automatic. This is quite the handicap to them. 
But yeah, this is pretty much the better way to deal with it. I wish it was automated like in other games, though.
I wonder whether there’s a mod card that forces manual with clutch?
Is that the 90 Camaro IROC-Z? I just loaded it and did a lap with clutch and H pattern shifter.
Isn’t it artificially boosted? In one of the previous games with a Tesla, didn’t someone test it with all three transmission settings and it turned out to be faster in manual and manual w/clutch despite the fact it didn’t shift at all?
Depends,with the race cars,Indy,F1,GT,etc,the advantage is not as much,with lower class cars yes.
Generally speaking with lower class cars (below S class) it is faster to use clutch but it doesn’t mather that much anymore. In earlier FM games using clutch did give you a much bigger boost in acceleration. If you do longer races with sim damage it is better to not use clutch if you’re not used to it, shifting incorrectly will result in damaging your transmission or even your engine.
A bit off-topic but do you know if oil cooling upgrades increase engine reliability enough to be worth the trouble when racing with full damage?
The only part that actually wears out is tires. Everything else is only damaged if you crash or shift wrong, so it wouldn’t make any difference.
No idea, I don’t tune cars myself, I’m only racing them.
Yes manual with clutch is faster. It’s faster via reduced shift times. This is more noticeable in lower classes where stock gearboxes are not the best.
Things change when you get to higher class modern race cars and some street cars that have modern race gearboxes. I believe they are called sequential boxes or something like that. For some manual with clutch is a disadvantage and others it seems manual is only slightly faster (GT cars for example).
When in doubt, check the top of the leaderboard. If you don’t see a semi circle then folks are using manual with clutch and you should too.
There’s no what’s fast to you option. Either clutch is the fastest or it’s not. For probably 70-80% of cars clutch is faster.
It also may depend on gearing. In some PI exploits of games past, it was better to literally drive around in one gear the whole track for the most part. In these cases you could get away with not using clutch.
Hogwash. Automatic is the consistently fastest option for me. If I’m lucky I can slightly exceed it in a Manual, but it hasn’t been worth the headache since Monaco GP 2. Manual w/Clutch can die in a fire… like I probably would if I was racing Manual w/Clutch. The OP should just give it a go and see if they can make it work for them - what’s technically true may not hold up under practical application for various reasons.