Double posting my initial results:
Decided to put 2nd and 4th gears on stick. Up to a tenth per heavy braking zones improvement. After enough laps with "quick select" i did few laps without. Found a tenth more simply by recognizing the correct rev "tone" better and allowing to think and monitor braking more methodically (obviously the save is in my head that needs to downchange only once..). After going back to "quick select™" (it ™ now..
) there were additional 5 tenths. Final laptime with ~30~L was 1:20.0.
Compared to ordinary practice session beginning, i was within 3 seconds at first lap with Davids setup (mostly cause i knew gear ranges where to aim, thank you once again for saving me 20 laps for just setup
..). No real differences, from outside everything seemed ordinary, typical progression. Don't think QS™ is a "magical tool" but it could come quite handy in special occasions and is worth to look in to.. Getting it right took very little time, it's was a reaction in few times i messed up braking, went too long: i could dig my way out easily with 2nd gear without losing a lot of time (it's kind a nice to know that you got one "safe" gear). Now the only real problem is during pitstop, where that reaction "push left hand forward" is quite funny (i stall, if i'm in box, that's no biggie.. if i overshoot and stall.. ****..). Most likely won't use it during race (don't like to think too much) but i'm sure as hell going to practice with and without it some more. It also can mean that i have to use auto-clutch, which slows one down just generally everywhere.
4th on pull: nothing to report, it's just easier to tap traditionally.. 3rd was the same, nothing to gain there, in either direction (possible gain to hit max apex speed easier in first corner but it's usually too busy to do anything unusual, even during practice lap so it's a no-go).
In general, delaying downchanges a bit seems to really help enough. Like Jackie Stewart said and i'm not gonna quote cause i don't remember how it exactly goes but: don't push throttle unless you're prepared to put and keep it at the floor. What i think it means is that hesitation or pumping the throttle too soon are disastrous.
The downside of delaying downshift: very VERY hard to feel or hear your actual speed. Changing faster makes braking distances a bit longer but allows more precision. Delaying can cause bog down, sudden drop in revs as you're going too slow because you braking was more effective that predicted.
QS™: interesting but mostly harmless with F3000. Too little bodymass, too fast gear box, no need to blip the throttle during downshift. But it's good reminder, i had forgotten this little trick. Delaying downshifts in general makes the most difference.
