Clutch Foot Positioning for MT
 

Hi everyone, the FR-S is my first manual car and so far I have gotten a lot better at driving it. But one thing I need to get down is the positioning of my left foot. I started out keeping my heel on the floor and pivoting with my ankle, but I would have to adjust my heel positioning a lot. I have a size 10 foot. Do you guys keep you're heel planted on the floor and pivot with you're ankle or keep the heel off the ground and move you're leg to push in and release the clutch? Which gives better control? Thanks in advance.

Left heel stays off the floor to work the clutch. I have smaller feet and there is no way I could control the clutch with my heel on the floor. My floor mat shows this, as there is virtually no heel wear under the clutch pedal, but a serious mark where my right heel sits to operate the gas and brake pedals.

This practice is also why I have had trouble left foot braking when I have tried it in an automatic transmission car. My left foot is just not used to having the heel on the floor. I could get better with practice, but why bother, I drive a manual.

This car's clutch actually has a lot of free play, meaning you have to press in the clutch quite far before it disengages. This might make it a little difficult to keep your heel on the floor. There's a DIY in the forums that explain how to adjust the clutch pedal, making it much easier drive. I tend to plant my heel on the floor and pivot at the ankle as you described, as it helps with my foot's "precision". However, I couldn't do this until after I adjusted the clutch pedal. Try it out, it may help

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When I drive manual.. left heel is off the floor. Pivoting it doesn't allow that much range of motion for me. I have to use my thigh muscles ahaha.

I don't pivot. Use my whole leg pretty much lol. I have small feet. Either way works as long you depress the clutch. Just make sure you don't keep your foot on the pedal and ride it. Push it down, shift, then take your foot off the pedal completely.

For me it's always been pushing the clutch with more leg movement than heel. Its pretty hard to push the clutch all the way by keeping the heel on the floor. But I do know people that do keep the heel in the floor so it's not wrong. But probably very difficult in a twin bc the clutch has a lot of travel unless you have a strong left heel.

I definitely use my whole leg to clutch in. Size 13 shoe. Like N1rve said, I don't think pivoting on the heel would provide a big enough range to clutch properly . Plus your leg muscles are stronger, so once you get the muscle memory down it allows for more control in my opinion

My heel is always on the floor when the clutch is fully pushed in. This allows me to release to the same exact catching point every time. Clutch in, heel down, tilt foot back then release.

I use my whole leg, foot off the floor, and take it off the clutch pedal (put it on the dead pedal) when you're not shifting to avoid excess clutch wear.

Same shoe size. Heel off the floor. Leg controls to the point just before the clutch engages. Ankle through about 70%, leg to finish it off. That's the best control for smooth starts and shifts. Fast shifting is the same since it's learned/muscle memory.

Your ankle is the only way to engage fine muscle control for finesse - though rougher on the clutch, you can even get smooth starts uphill just through controlled clutch slip. Eventually this pays off because you learn exactly where the clutch engages and can shift faster than of you only use leg control.

C

Heel off the floor. It does make it a bit harder to modulate the clutch over rough pavement.

Heel on floor, pivot at ankle. (Size 11 shoes. Never adjusted clutch.) No problems operating clutch. I've driven plenty of vehicles where this wasn't possible though, especially trucks.

This was my first manual as well & I was wondering the same exact thing. From doing a little bit of online research I found that most people will not pivot there foot and generally there heel will stay off the floor.

I messed around with both methods, and since my feet aren't huge I found keeping my heel off the floor to be the better of the two routes.

A bit of advice also, I would recommend looking into the DIY section of the forum & adjusting your clutch so that the disengage height is not so late into the clutch motion.

I have my clutch pretty much in the same plane as my brake and the clutch disengages a lot earlier which has definitely helped me in improving my MT driving skills.

Pivoting is not a recommended practice. Especially if you are trying it with cowboy boots.
Do it the right way, heel off the floor.