question about gear ratio tuning

[Turtle Squirt]

I've been playing slrr for quite a long time now, and for the majority of that time i mostly focused on making cars look cool with mods, but now I really want to make fast cars without using mods, and i usually have no trouble building an engine that makes good power, however the issue is my inability to tune gear ratios. I see people claiming 6 second quarter miles with 4 cylinder cars and i struggle to make mine run 10s. Basically my question is, is there any specific process that is best to be used for transmission tuning? id like an answer beyond "just mess with it till you figure it out" because as as far as i can tell when i "just mess with it" my car gets slower. Do i go gear by gear? do i start with the end ratio? Is there any combination of long/ short i should be using? The only time i feel like i had an actually fast car in this game was when you could still make a 3000hp v12 and launch in top gear, and its getting frustrating lol.

[ihaveablackhat]

keep original gear ratios but lower final drive

[Vatarr]

I just take my car out and make the gears short (higher number) until I get wheel spin and then back off a hair. It depends on what race you're doing too. I'm going for acceleration when I do that, usually for 1/4 mile drag.

[Soharuda]

General rule of thumb when tuning gear ratios. Make sure so when you shift, it falls back into peak power or just before. You can find this point in your RPMs by looking at the dyno graph.

Lower final drive usually helps as well.

[Dogbrain]

It's OK when you can actually use that peak of power. But in most cases you end up with a wheelie (usually in NSX V16) or in a serious wheelspin (the same V12 with RWD gearbox). A wheelie may send you flying but you still have to cut off some gas to make your car get back on its 4 limbs which costs time. The wheelspin is probably a nightmare of all draggers. I remember back in the first version of the game when I built a Stallion with max available power. There was no ability to custom tune the parts. As soon as I hit the gas, no matter how, the car was going in circles without any feedback from the direction of front wheels. Therefore I always try to find that perfect tune for longer gears and speed so I don't spin my rear in the first place.
But that's my opinion and it doesn't mean that it is the absolute truth.

[Archalium]

Look at engine build guides for the 4 cylinder engines. if you have not already, go with an AWD transmission to help put down power onto the ground. Leave the transmission gearing stock since the preset gearing is pretty good for now. Get the widest drag radials available and stick them on the rear.

People complain about wheelies or wheel spin being an issue; suspension tuning fixes or at least minigates that. Go with the stiffest springs available for the rear without lowering it. Do the opposite for the front with fairly soft springs. I would do the same for the shock absorbers. The car wouldn't turn worth anything on a race track, but drag race launches is great, the car would drive straight really fast without any stability issues, and stop quickly without crashing. I also bumped up the rear sway bar stiffness, but I'm not sure if it's required.

I recomend to have a dedicated night drag race car alongside with your day normal street racing or track day car. Reason is that quite a bit of tuning (engine tuning, suspension, etc) to make a car go fast in a straight line would hurt actual performance when racing on a track or city city blocks. The drag car doesn't have to look pretty or handle decently, just have the capability for a powerful engine.