manual shifting is simply so much more fun than automatic

the same in real, I once had an automatic rented for a week in US, soooooo frustrating on the mountain roads

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

Check out the setup pages on LFS Manual (link top left). If you ever really get into it, reading a relevant book could be useful even just out of general interest.


My personal opinion would be to skip automatic gears from the start. It's a huge handicap to learning to drive properly in LFS because the shift points are terrible for racing. You'll leave most corners one gear too high up with no revs.


It depends entirely on what you set out to achieve, imo. If you're happy to not race for the win, but just having a good battle with someone in mid or at the back (see below about controllers), you can do it with keyboard and with casual time commitment. If you experience deep inner turmoil not wiping the floor with P2, you'll have to have a proper controller and hours put it, I'd say.

The good thing about LFS is if you do end up getting a licence (don't even consider s1), time isn't an issue as the payment is one-off instead of monthly.


I feel a wheel is an absolute must only if you get a licence and intend to drive the faster cars. XFG, XRG and FBM are sufficiently low-powered to be relatively easy to drive with a non-wheel controller. While I personally will never be record-breaking fast with any controller, I do well driving the XRG with mouse.

I'd strongly recommend using mouse and keyboard instead of just keyboard. Having accurate, analog steering was a massive improvement for me. You need to spend a few minutes configuring your mouse settings (in game and Windows), but for me it was infinitely better than keyboard, stabilised or not. If you want to have a go, here is how I have me set up:

Windows settings
- Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options > Speed : 55% (one click off the centre)
- Enhance pointer precision : OFF, this option is a real PITA to use with LFS because it causes huge speed variation

LFS settings : mouse
- Steer centre reduction : 0.78, more of this makes the steering slower around the centre, easier to make small accurate steering inputs. Alternative would be to go fully linear and reduce the mouse speed in Windows
- Button control rate : 7-10, speed at which your throttle and brake operate. XFG and XRG are fine with 10, but for powerful cars it might need lowering to prevent going everywhere sideways.

LFS settings : buttons
throttle : a
brake : z
clutch : x
h-brake : q
look left / right : w/e
shift up / down : left mouse / right mouse

LFS settings : driver
All assists and auto-clutch : OFF

To get comfortable using these, I started just by doing start and stop practices. Concentrating on just the shifting in a straight line. When the shift light comes on:
- release the throttle 'a'
- press the clutch 'x' and left mouse 'LMB' down approximately simultaneously and release immediately
- back on the throttle 'a'

Down from full speed:
- release throttle 'a'
- press brake 'z'
- press the clutch 'x' and right mouse button 'RMB' down and release immediately, repeat until you are in the right gear
- release brake 'z'
If I need to blip the throttle, I can switch to automatic clutch and tap 'a' when I shift down.

Once shifting is second nature (this alone compared to auto gears is a massive time gain), braking and apexing is the next target. You should aim to minimise the angle of turning, while being on the throttle before the apex. Braking so late that you're still reducing speed after the apex kills laptimes. Be smooth, gentle and brake early at least until you are confident of pushing hard as opposed to hanging on.

You can download and watch replays of top drivers doing their laps, not to mention test driving their setups if you have a look on LFS World (link top left). I'd also recommend getting a stable setup early on, usually some nice fast people will share theirs if you ask them politely on a server. If you feel a setup is too oversteery for you (yes, even the FWD setups can be very oversteery..), get one that's a bit more forgiving.

Oh and welcome btw

This helped me A LOT!!