The present invention provides a gear absolute position sensor assembly (GAPS) that senses the current absolute, position of the shift lever of a manual transmission. The sensor assembly provides data to an associated electronic controller such as an engine control module (ECM) regarding the current position of the shift lever, such as an engaged gear. The sensor assembly preferably comprises two Hall effect or other type of magnetic field (proximity) sensors in combination with an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) which is supplied with data from the sensors, decodes the output of the sensors and provides an output identifying a specific engaged gear or neutral for use by vehicle or engine management electronics. The sensors are mounted proximate the shift linkage at a location where they can sense both rotation and translation.