Had a go at my second ever online race today. CR1 at Portimao, was shunted on T1, then a few turns later made a poor move and spun into a barrier. Car was facing the barrier and I couldn't get it out. I could select reverse, but it just jumped out into neural if I applied any throttle. So I was completely stuck and unable to escape. I had to quit the race to get out of it. I'm new to this so wonder if I am missing something here with the shifters? Advice would be very appreciated (apart from don't lock up and spin) Thanks
Normally you can shift down to reverse, if you don't push the trottle. But I think you damaged the gearbox hitting the barrier.
Actually this happens when you have your transmission set to automatic. You shift down to reverse and when you hit the throttle it goes directly into 1st gear. There is a mechanic in place that ensures that you can switch from driving forward to backward and then forward again without any shifter buttons assigned. And it goes like this: You start to drive in neutral. You hit the throttle and 1st gear gets engaged and you accelerate and shift up automatically as long as you keep on pushing the throttle. You hit the brakes and the car brakes (orly?) and shifts down appropriately. If you want to drive backward you just have to keep pushing the brake pedal until you stop and then keep pushing it. After 1-2 seconds the car automatically shifts in reverse and throttles up - now your brake pedal has been transformed to a throttle. You accelerate backwards with pushing the brake. And you can brake pushing the throttle now. And the mechanic of course also goes backwards. After you drove backwards enough and you want to go forward again, just push the throttle (which had been transformed into a brake) until you stop and then just keep pushing it for 1-2 seconds and the car will automatically switch to 1st gear again and now your pedals are in the right order again. If you are in automatic but still have shifters assigned, you CAN shift by using them, but this mechanic will stay in place and interfere with whatever gear you shifted to manually. At first it looks a bit odd, but when you think about it, it's quite a smart way to ensure that you can still go back- and forward as you like, even without any shifters assigned.
Great reply Arthur, thank you. I was in auto gearbox mode, still getting to grips with manual shifting. I tried it out, it feels a bit weird having the brake and throttle reverse itself, but it would get me away from a barrier. Best way would be for me to avoid walls and barriers altogether, but that's a work in progress. Onward and upwards....or sideways