The Yamaha rev limiter is progressive, based on RPM rate-of-change as the hard rev limit is approached. If you hit the rev limit in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears, you'll notice that the limit action is much more aggressive in the lower gears, because the engine is approaching the limit much faster. The strategy was developed to protect Formula 1 racing engines. First, every other fuel injector is dropped out of the firing order, which is felt as a loss of power, then, both fuel and spark are dropped, which you feel as bucking in lower gears, or surging in higher gears.

The automatic tranny SHO's have a neutral 4500 RPM rev limit to keep from overheating the transmission's torque converter.