No, that would make it exploitable. There is no way anyone would prefer blowing the engine over having to click shift down another time after clicking it too early
I personally changed my mind about the downshift protection, I don't mind having it on the cars on which it is in real life, provided it is. *Realistically configured. On the other hand, I find that wearing out prematurely (with a drop in performance as a result) or even the risk of destroying the engine is much more interesting for the pilot, and for the race. We spent decades without this (and TC/ABS and all those things that I personally never liked and fortunately they can be deactivated for almost all cars) and the races were (maybe more ???) exciting at the time. For my part, I got used to the idea of shift protection. To be honest, I would prefer before, provided that the wear and tear on the engine leads to realistic consequences. I don't want to get into a useless debate, but for me ABS and TC it's not possible, unless I have no choice. There is no question of easy not easy, just to have total control over my driving and that all my micro errors on the steering, the gas or the brake lead to consequences on my driving or my performance. (((I think the FIA was wrong to authorize and generalize this aid. It's not just simulation.))) GTs for example in rFactor 2 are awesome ALSO with those assists OFF. I'm not trying to convince anyone, everyone does what they want, it's legitimate to use ABS and TC on cars that are equipped with them if you want of course.
Yeah, need better engine damage options before that can be optional, otherwise people will just drive in silly ways to maximise their performance. Which itself is something real drivers would do where possible, so it's its own skill/approach, but since we're using a simulation it's not really good to have cars driven in ways that aren't possible in real life. @Leandro Lenne Question: what's wrong with shifting down at realistic times/RPM? Is there some actual reason it bothers you, or have you just not got used to it yet?
I remember a video of historical Can-Am/Interseries cars at Spa. They downshifted slowly approaching Le Source hairpin, starting at about the start/finish line. Slow gradual shifts. Certainly they were protecting expensive and rare cars, but it was quite different from today.
