[Want.FR-S]

A lot of things have been said, and what I agree on the two things:

1. find a flat parking lot with less or no traffic. Practice starting forward or backward using clutch and clutch only. No gas, no brake. This is to help you find the grabbing/friction/engagement point on the car. People complains about this point is high on FRS/BRZ. IMHO, many manual cars have this point set at high (last 1/4 of clutch travel) anyway.

2. No need to rev to X RPM *before* you release the clutch, except when you are learning to hill-start. Any revving *prior* to release the clutch to the grabbing point is just riding the clutch and cause premature wear. The steps to start should be (IMO):

On a flat ground: brake in, clutch in, shift to 1st gear, release brake, release clutch to grab point to get car moving a bit, release more to let the clutch grab the transmission, add gas gradually to speed up.

On a uphill start: brake in, clutch in, shift to 1st gear, hold brake, release clutch to grab point, release clutch a bit more to fully engage the transmission *and* release the brake and move to gas pedal at the same time, before the car starts to stall, add gas a bit more to speed up.

On a downhill start: brake in, clutch in, shift to 1st gear, hold brake, release clutch to grab point, release clutch a bit more to fully engage the transmission *and* release the brake and move to gas pedal at the same time, the car will move forward, add gas a bit more to speed up.

So, as you can see, if you want to start faster, you have to do all of these steps faster but in the correct sequence. Without knowing the grabbing point or correct sequence, you are just riding the clutch and hope for the best.

Some other points that people may have missed:

1. when you just start up the car, the idle RPM may be higher than that when it is fully warm up. So imagine during the cold idle RPM when you release the clutch to the grab point, it is as if you rev it already beyond the warm-up idle RPM, and thus you should feel more power pushing forward or backward. Therefore, when you just start up the car and get moving, keep this in mind and do not fully release the clutch and be ready to clutch in and brake in case the car moves too far than you desire.

I do the same trick while backing out to my driveway going downhill. Just release the clutch and brake a bit to get the car moving and clutch in to stay steady and brake if I need to. The initial momentum and the downhill will drag me out of the garage very easily.

2. you have full control of driving a manual car. So you need to beware of the change of grade, and use that to your advantage. If you are on a uphill but you need to reverse, do you need to use the reverse gear? Not really, just clutch in and release the brake a bit to slowly slide down. No need to put into reverse. The reverse is also true. If you are on a down hill going forward, you do not need to use the 1st gear if you just need to move a bit during parking exercise. Clutch in and slide is all you need.

Just make sure to keep the foot on brake when you are sliding. You never know when you need to stop for whatever reason.

Hope this helps.