Hey Cincy Dad,
I start out in second as well with the faster cars, but you have intrigued me with the starting out in 1st idea. I might have to play with that idea for a while and see if I can get it to work for me.
Let me know if you have any success. I eventually abandoned it. It appeared my 0-60 was just a hair quicker but overall I was running slower because of the additional shift needed to 2nd. So I'm back to putting my thumb on both the gas and shift lever to immediately start off in 2nd.
I did some more tuning and I am at a spot where I have zero wheel spin until I hit NOS in 3rd gear. It "feels" like I'm lugging the engine off the line but it's working well for me. Have run as fast as 12.419 with the black Ferrari this way (level 7).
Here's my tuning parameters if anybody wants to try it on a full loaded black Ferrari.
Nos 131%
F 3.653
1 1.744
2 1.483
3 1.180
4 1.060
5 .922
6 .806
start off in 2nd and then shift perfectly for the rest of the race