F1 22: How to race with manual gears

It's here! After months of waiting, F1 22 has today gone live for gamers who pre-ordered the Champions Edition. The Official Formula 1 game isn't an easy one to master, particularly when you're using manual gears.

Your transmission settings can be altered in F1 22, but what does this mean and how exactly do you change them?

What are manual gears?

Manual gears are a type of transmission that means you need to change gear manually by pressing a button on your controller or wheel. This is in contrast to automatic gears, where the gears will change automatically when you reach a certain rev value.

So, because of that, you set the gear, rather than the game. This adds an element of realism to the experience in F1 22, because the real-life drivers have a manual gearbox too.

Technically, Formula 1 cars have semi-automatic gearboxes, but that's effectively what you have with a controller pad.

To practice using manual gears, we recommend starting up Time Trial mode. Choose a circuit that is simple and doesn't have many corners, such as Austria or Monza. Hammer the laps in there, while focusing on changing gear at the optimum time.

How to change to manual gears

It's very simple to change your gears to manual, and there are a few options when changing this.

F1 22 will be set to automatic gears by default, so to change this, head over to the Game Options menu within the Home section. Then go to Settings, before selecting Assists. From there, you can scroll down to the Gearbox option.

You can opt for manual or automatic gears, but there's also a third option. You can opt for manual with suggested gears too. This means that you'll have a little indicator in the bottom-right of your HUD that will suggest which gear you should be in for the upcoming corner.

Why manual gears can be faster

Manual gears allows you to do a few things that automatic transmission don't. One of these is short shifting, which allows you to save fuel and both your rear tyres and engine.

In wet conditions, you can also short shift to limit wheelspin and better control the acceleration of the car.

Likewise, when braking into corners, make sure you are doing so smoothly (both braking and downshifting that is). This will also avoid unnecessary wear on the gearbox, and help keep the car stable on corner entry.

Finally, manual gears also allows you to be in a lower gear on corner exit, which can aid acceleration.