Store Page
American Truck Simulator
All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews

American Truck Simulator

Store Page
American Truck Simulator >  Workshop > Fury6's Workshop > E-F RTLO-xx913/18 Gearboxes + Diffs > Discussions
E-F RTLO-xx913/18 Gearboxes + Diffs
Description Discussions11 Comments390 Change Notes
Fury6  [developer] 17 Aug, 2016 @ 12:16pm
Shift RPM Ranges
@Saltheart,

Hey man, thanks for the kind words :).

The shift range depends on a few variables, including your engine, gearbox, gross weight and road incline.

In stock ATS engines the peak torque RPM range is 1100 - 1400 RPM with a sharp drop-off below 1100 and medium roll-off above 1400. The E-F Super-N gearboxes drop approx. 400 RPM between full shifts, half that (200 RPM) between split shifts.

The actual numbers you'll shift at is something only experience can really teach you as it varies with conditions and circumstances (differing weights & inclines in particular) for any given engine/gearbox combination.

A starting rule of thumb would be to shift up as soon as you have enough torque in the dropped RPM (your RPM after the shift is completed) to continue to accelerate the load for the road conditions (incline in particular).

Things to consider would be whether or not you actually *need* the peak torque available given your load and incline. If not then shift sooner - If you can still keep accelerating cleanly (IRL, lugging is far more obvious and apparent than in the game, it's effect in-game is basically just a lack of torque) from 1000 RPM then shift at 1400 (full shift) or 1200 (split shift). On an incline, you would hold your shift further up the RPM range depending on the grade, on a decline you might shift even earlier.
< >
Showing 1-5 of 5 comments
Fire Breather (Banned) 17 Aug, 2016 @ 1:48pm 
So shifting at 2200 probably isnt that good ;) Its actually kind of hard to shift so soon and so often to get to those ranges. Ill defineitley work at it more than I have. Does this game model a blown engine?
#1
Fury6  [developer] 17 Aug, 2016 @ 2:11pm 
Ummm... well, you might not want to do all your shifting at 2200 in the ones you can kick, but in the game the only effect will be fuel consumption and complete loss of torque (by the time you get to about 1950 RPM your torque will have dropped off to almost useless).

Basically you're just driving a diesel-to-noise converter at that point :). The game doesn't model blown engines from excessive RPM, no. In reality modern turbodiesels are RPM limited anyway (modelled in the game also, btw) and you'd be pretty hard pressed to blow an engine through excessive RPM (you'll be causing excessive wear, though - not sure if this is taken into account in the game's engine wear accumulation).

You're more likely to blow a modern turbodiesel by running too LOW in the RPM range for too long (down in the peak torque range), where they tend to heat up significantly when loaded up (may burn valves or pistons, etc). This isn't modelled in the game.

Best advice I can give you for the gear changes is: Practice, Practice, Practice :)
Last edited by Fury6; 17 Aug, 2016 @ 2:12pm
#2
Fire Breather (Banned) 18 Aug, 2016 @ 11:32am 
After spending more time with it Im coming to the conclusion this game isnt modelled even slightly right for shifting at low RPM (realistically). I pretty much use teh 370hp motor exclusivley, could it be this motor making the shifting so unrealistic?
#3
Fury6  [developer] 19 Aug, 2016 @ 4:02am 
Hmm, well... it's hard to say because I don't know how you're making your shifts and I don't know what your expectation vs experience is.

The game could do better in a couple or so small ways, but overall there's only so much you can do to make realistic seeming actions from a very much less than realistic hardware environment.

I would agree that shifting at realistic RPM ranges appears to be more difficult than at the higher ranges in the game - the timing seems to get closer the lower down in the range you make the shift. That may even possibly be a bug.

As for the engine, I've noticed there's an inverse correlation between engine torque and engine inertia that really shouldn't be there. The more torque the engine has, the lower the engine's angular inertia appears to be. If anything though, this makes gear shifts easier with the lower powered engines, not harder (ie, the shift timing closes up more with more engine torque).

From a personal perspective, I don't have any real problems with the gear changes. Agreed that improvements could be made, however there's not an awful lot of room there owing to the general limitations of the hardware.
#4
Flat Basset 24 Aug, 2017 @ 1:10pm 
from personal experience, with modern four stroke diesels (ISX, N14, 3406 series, C13 & 15, Detroit 60 and newer, etc) your shift point should be between 1400 and 1600 rpm for an upshift, and 1100 to 1200 rpm for a downshift..

with older two stroke diesels such as the Detroit 6V, 8V, and 12V engines, your shift point for an upshift is between 1800 and 2100 rpm and for a downshift is 1400 to 1600 rpm, provided the torque curves are correctly modeled in the engine files... if the torque curves are not modeled in the engine files then the game treats all as modern four strokes...
#5
< >
Showing 1-5 of 5 comments
Per page: 1530 50