H-shifter and clutch - busting my nuts going through first few gears. Gah!

[Mirabilis]

Can someone give me some tips on using the H-shifter and clutch. The first five gears are so close to first gear I'm going through them at a crazy pace when accelerating. Should I skip some of the early gears, or ease up on the throttle?

I'm using the method where the first set of gears (1-6) are changed as in a car, then you click to toggle to the next set (7-12). Is this the best method? Unless I'm climbing out of the quarry with a 25 ton load I've yet to find a use for gears 2-5.

Any advice would be welcome.

[Ryu]

You're using the correct method as far as the shifter set-up goes. To answer your question about skipping: Yes, you should skip gears. No law says you have to go through them all sequentially. In fact, I see the auto transmission skipping gears all the time. :)

[Kawil]

Change your shifting to a Split H and you can have the gears setup where it skips automatically. 1-3-5-7-9-11 for low and 2-4-6-8-10-12 for high. Of course...this setup will change depending on your gearbox and how many gears you have. I have a 16 speed and it looks something roughly like this: 1-4-7-10-13-16 and 2-5-8-11-14-16 (might have some of the gears off...but you get the idea).

[ScorpionAU]

Makes it much easier to skip gears.
With a load I do 3, 5, 7, 9 then from there its each gear individually up to 12.
On down shifting it is just the reverse. Use your speed and rpms to judge when to change to make it all smooth.

[room217au]

In ETS2 in-game trucks maximum torque is achieved between 1000rpm and 1500rpm.. ish.
If you're good enough, you can change gears inside this "window" (up or down) without using the clutch. You essentially only need the clutch when starting or stopping.
I'd like to see a clutch brake in this game. That'll screw with some people's heads :)

[TracyJay]

Originally posted by room217au:

In ETS2 in-game trucks maximum torque is achieved between 1000rpm and 1500rpm.. ish.
If you're good enough, you can change gears inside this "window" (up or down) without using the clutch. You essentially only need the clutch when starting or stopping.
I'd like to see a clutch brake in this game. That'll screw with some people's heads :)

Clutch brake, and unsyncro'd transmission...that'd be pretty awesome...and a way to make the G27 H shifter recognize the idea of floating gears...can't float 'em on the G27...have to use the clutch.

[Mirabilis]

Thanks folks! I was worried that if I skipped gears I'd be straining the transmission but it seems that its okay to do that.

I'll try some different shifter setups, too as suggested. Nothing beats the Steam community for great tips and help!

[room217au]

If any of the real world principles apply in the ETS2 world..
- keep as close as you can to the torque range (1100rpm - 1500rpm). This will reduce strain on the engine.
- don't bother dropping down through the gears when approaching a stop. Just lift your right foot, use the retarder and let it and the engine compression do the job. The practice of revving the engine between gears is a waste of fuel, extra wear and tear on the clutch and increases driver workload. Once you've come to a stop, just change to an appropriate gear to take off when needed.
Remember the trucker's creed: "Gears to go. Brakes to slow".
- driving down hills (eg. in the Italian mountains) try not to use the brakes so much. Select an appropriate gear to hold the truck at a particular speed relevant to the gradient. Hence the signs: "Trucks must use low gear". I dunno about ETS2 but in the RW brake shoes heat up quickly from over-use. This causes 'brake fade' meaning the brakes are less effective at upper temperature ranges. Use them too much and at the bottom of a grade you stamp on the brake pedal and nothing happens except you wake up in hospital.
Slow and steady wins the race :)

[Silverbiker]

From what I have read most Truckers seem to pull away in 4/5th gear only using lower ones (in this game anyway) as "crawler" gears. So that is what I do now, using the low gears for quarry, hills, on ramps etc.

[Super Snail]

Why Change Gear!!!!!. Modern Lorries are built with auto box for a reason, operators want less maintenance. And some of the most expensive are Driver related, like Brake's and cluch. I have known drivers go through a clutch in just over a year, so with vehicle down time and cost of replacing the clutch is a big loss. But if You want to change Gears. Allways Start in First and use every other one until you change into high range and then use the high gears as normal (no junping gears). The reason for this is moving off in first gear do'es not strain the clutch even when empty, as the low range gears are close together so missing one out will not make much difference on level ground but high range gears get further apart the higher you go. So, if the Engine revs die down that gear is to high and is loading the Clutch, Gears and Engine.
Hope this helps and change smoothly

[Sky_Goddess]

I use 2-4-6-8-10-12 when using the H-shifter, or else would go nuts about shifting like a maniac. :S
But I'm lazy so I only use 6-8-10-12, haha.

[room217au]

Originally posted by Super Snail:

Why Change Gear!!!!!. Modern Lorries are built with auto box for a reason, operators want less maintenance. And some of the most expensive are Driver related, like Brake's and cluch. I have known drivers go through a clutch in just over a year, so with vehicle down time and cost of replacing the clutch is a big loss. But if You want to change Gears. Allways Start in First and use every other one until you change into high range and then use the high gears as normal (no junping gears). The reason for this is moving off in first gear do'es not strain the clutch even when empty, as the low range gears are close together so missing one out will not make much difference on level ground but high range gears get further apart the higher you go. So, if the Engine revs die down that gear is to high and is loading the Clutch, Gears and Engine.
Hope this helps and change smoothly

High gears in low revs is called "chugging" :)
Certainly with common-place situation of slush boxes in trucks it makes a steering life a lot easier. I'm from a time when auto ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ just couldn't do the job.
As far as cog selection goes in manual trucks, when you're driving bobtail you wouldn't need the bottom range. Even in my 'old' rigid 26ton twin-steer carrying a few tons, I still didn't use the bottom 5 in a 14sp RR. If you always use all the gears, regardless of load, it's un-necessary wear and tear on the drive-train, imho.
For me, auto transmissions take all the fun out of it :)

[Pickle Bath]

For ETS 2 I generally start in 3rd (and never go below it), skip to 5th, then 6th, then go from there.

[m61a1]

Lol I must be really backwards to go 1-3-5-7-9 and so forth!

[Marius]

This thread wanna make me hook up a shifter on my DFGT or make me wanna buy a G25 secondhanded. I am so jealous of you people.

[m61a1]

I bought a G27 for this and assetto corsa. I find using a wheel to be quite entertaining and I cut my fuel usage grossly from 35 liters per 100 km to 26-28 per 100 km. That's with only 2 points in eco driving too.