SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED Tuning Tips: Standing Mile

With the release of the Speedhunters DLC pack for SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED yesterday came two new race modes, along with a 14 new cars. The former features a drag strip, allowing you to channel your inner Vin Diesel and live your life a quarter-mile at a time. The other new race mode is similar, but still very, very different. The “Standing Mile” is a one-mile speed trap where you try and achieve the highest MPH possible. It’s not about who reaches the one-mile marker in the shortest amount of time, it’s about who is going the fastest when they cross it.

Knowing this, the car you’ve tuned perfectly for Laguna Seca or the Nordschleife isn’t necessarily going to be the best here. It’s all about maximizing your top end speed in a straight line. 

In my limited time with the DLC pack, I’ve been trying to get the Pagani Huayra Speedhunters Edition to top out right as I hit the finish line. On my first pass I was only going a paltry 210mph. Immediately I went to tune the Pagani’s drivetrain. As mentioned in a previous blog, the drivetrain adjusts the gearing, allowing you to have more acceleration or more top speed. I maxed-out the final drive to 8.00 and instantly my speed reached 222mph. The Pagani was just barely beginning to stretch its legs though. I went gear-by-gear and maxed them all out, resulting in 249mph.

To show what a difference a minor adjustment can make, I took 7th gear down one notch on the Pagani and my trap speed plummeted 15mph.

I wouldn’t recommend maxing out your gears for all cars though. Ideally, you’d want to be about to redline in your final gear as you cross the finish line. For some, that may mean adjusting individual gears to get the most out of their car. As a general rule, if your revs are dropping anywhere below half of the redline when you shift, that gear is too tall. Adjust it toward acceleration (one notch is usually plenty) and you should be able to carry your power through to the next gear, instead of feeling a lull in acceleration.

Having found the sweet spot in the gear ratios, I started looking for other ways to increase speed. I lowered my downforce completely, which boosted me to 257mph. Combine that with increasing negative camber and raising tire pressure and I was approaching a much more respectable 265mph.

Each individual car will require a bit of trial and error, but getting the Drag Pack (instead of the Works package) is a good place to start. Follow that with your gear ratios, camber adjustments and tire pressures, and you’ll be squeezing out more mph with every pass.

General Rules:

-Set your Gear Ratios to a much taller setting than stock

-Individual gears may need to be tweaked in order to maximize performance. When you shift, if the revs drop too low, try adjusting that gear more toward acceleration

-Downforce should be very low

-Negative camber should be increased

-Tire pressure should be increased