When in polar mode (`set polar`), the xrange and the yrange are both found from the polar coordinates, and thus they can both be automatically scaled. In other words, in polar mode both the x and y axes can be automatically scaled to fit the ranges of the polar function that is being plotted.
When plotting functions in polar mode, the rrange may be autoscaled. When plotting data files in polar mode, the trange may also be autoscaled. Note that if the trange is contained within one quadrant, autoscaling will produce a polar plot of only that single quadrant.
Explicitly setting one or two ranges but not others may lead to unexpected results. See also polar demos.