Honestly, does final drive tuning matter?

Especially in drag tuning. I tune most cars, gearing-wise, without touching the final drive due to me seeing no difference. Can someone who understands explain?

It probably matters more in lower horsepower cars to stay at the top of the hp curve.

That makes sense to be honest.

Adjusting final drive is just part of the determination of gear ratio and the exact same gear ratio in any particular gear can be achieved by adjusting the individual gear without touching the final drive ratio. The benefit of adjusting final drive ratio is most useful at the beginning of the process where it will shift all the gears left or right while watching 0-60, 0-100 and top speed to get to a good starting point before adjusting individual gears to maximize performance.

in d class its the difference between wining the race or slowly drag racing from corner to corner with the crashers in the back. pro tranny is the 1st upgrade i do, in low hp cars the acceleration cuts you lap time way down. and oit with the sport tranny, sometimes they only one you can get without breaking the pi limit and disqualifying a car due to exceeding pi for the class, final drive is the only thing you can adjust. not only is it the much faster and easier rough gearing tune method, some times its the only method. better to learn how to max final drive 1st then since it is sometimes the only way, then if you can tune the individual gears use them for fine tuneing. if you have to learn only one way, learn final drive.

you can get more speed out of setting the final drive than you can adding horsepower for much less pi cost. and you can use those pi to reduce weight, get better tires, a race suspension, better brakes adding the forza aero will also give you a few more pi (you can adjust it down as well as up if not needed giving you the same or more speed and free pi points to spend). then after you have all the upgrades for a fast little car that almost handles its self you can throw what ever is left into hp upgrades.

In drag tuning, I play with the gears so the gear (could be 2nd, 3rd, or whatever) tops out just as the car crosses the finish line.

If the car has enough power to spin the tires, then the final gear ratio can be lowered and you may be able to save 1 shift point; that’s fraction of a time saved.

If changing the final drive ratio does not save an upshift, there is no point to the change as far as I’m concerned.