- 01Read RPM and road
- 02Predict the next demand
- 03Shift up or down
- 04Observe acceleration and RPM
Gear-shift timing
Gearing changes the relationship between speed and driving force. Shifts alter RPM, trading current acceleration against transition costs.
The player's decision
Shift up now or hold a lower gear because braking is imminent?
Original scenario
Original setup: a short straight leads uphill. A high gear loses climbing force; a low gear limits straight-line speed.
Start with this prototype
Build a three-gear timed straight and hill. Display RPM bands and gear, use a simple force curve and provide an automatic baseline. Finish one route; omit full engine simulation.
Change one variable
Vary shift interruption time and check whether frequent shifting always pays.
What to observe in a playtest
Are low-speed high gear and high-speed low gear consequences readable? Can the automatic baseline finish?
Take the full design card
Includes rules, scope, tuning questions and sources for further planning. It does not create a project automatically.
Original analysis · version 1
Common pitfall
Awarding fixed speed per upshift turns gearing into a timing minigame unrelated to road conditions.
Observations and sources
Cases refer to public documentation. Developers and community wikis are credited separately; document review is not a claim of hands-on testing.
- Gran Turismo 7
The official guide explains ratios, RPM drops and power bands behind shifting decisions.
- DiRT Rally
The manual provides separate up/down shifting and shifter support, grounding manual input in the prototype.
Brief for the studio
Opens the AI studio with the brief below in the input. You can edit it. Nothing starts automatically.
Build a three-gear timed straight and hill. Display RPM bands and gear, use a simple force curve and provide an automatic baseline. Finish one route; omit full engine simulation.
Covers are original AI-generated style illustrations. Game names reference publicly visible design choices and remain the property of their owners. This atlas does not supply screenshots or assets from those games. Prompts and combinations are original drafts for new games.