Manual driving method

[2point0]

Originally Posted by thejevans

Yeah. I have bunions and this is the only good thing that came out of the deformity lol. My feet are the perfect shape to make this easy as hell.

I didn't even think of that but I do have a bunion on my right foot! Still, size 13+ just can't turn sideways under there.

I dunno why people are shifting so soon, this lil thing loves to rev. As far as break-in, it needs some load introduced or you'll never seat the rings. Of course, that's way behind me now...I ticked 8k on my way home yesterday. But I feel like I get better gas mileage at higher RPMs anyway (no data to back this up).

[ks22732]

Originally Posted by whaap

Though I've never tried it I would guess 6th gear at 40 mph is putting a considerable amount of strain on your engine (lugging). I won't go into 6th till atleast 50 mph.

I hear what your saying. generally, i'm speaking of hitting a spead limit of 40, reaching speed limit, and basically coasting. It's sitting around 2k rpm if I remember correctly, I'll make sure on the way home from work. Doesn't seem to be lagging, as in making that churning choppy feeling/sound like at around 1k~1200 rpm. any one aware of anything like diesel generators that don't pull enough power and eating oil kind of problems with a low rpm like this? btw, i've owned 4-5 manual transmissions and never had any issues driving this way. Not to big to say i'm wrong, but I think it's a good discussion

Edit: I realized I'm trying to get the best fuel economy I can and I'm babying it. I just got rid of a suburban sooo... I had to drive it like that or not eat. I'll keep the revs up and see if I keep good fuel economy. then again, who cares~!

[Nitesh31]

I've been following the fuel efficiency shift indicator that tells me to shift up a little above 2000 for each gear, which is why going 30 I'm in 5th at 2000. While coasting the engine doesn't feel like its lugging or making that deisel sound but it definitely isn't as responsive as in the higher rpms.
Maybe the indicator isn't accurate since it doesn't know I want to stay steady at 30 mph

[ks22732]

Ok, so I went to get the kids from school, and kept the revs about a 1000 rpm higher than I was, so around 2500-3500 and didn't go into 6th at all. went from 26.3 mpg avg, to 25.9 mpg avg. what was I thinking!?!? and it's so much funner to drive that way!

[ERZperformance]

I know this is totally off the subject but I want to say that I hate those people who has AT and would drive their car like stick shirt. They would put their car in N at a stop light, put it back in D when it takes off.

[frosty86]

Shifting at little over 3000 rpm feels like my shift is smoother yet it eats up more gas. Damnit toyobaru.

[Vb]

Originally Posted by Realm

Also, am I the only person who does not down shift? I like to keep strain off the transmission and just take it out of gear before a stop. Breaks are cheaper than transmission parts

thats the only right way to drive a manual. it is most economic and if conditions allow, thats how you drive. in icy conditions, you would slow down downshifting. if you need to be ready to accelerate on a dime, you stay in a sufficiently low gear.


with this noisy engine and power dip in midrange, i notice that i upshit under 4k RPM, as if it was close to a red line and its natural power drop-off point.

gears 5 and 6 are essentially cruise gears. so you do all your acceleration with 1-4 and then for cruising, use 5 or 6 depending on speed. cruising at 2000RPM is ok, but surely there will be no acceleration.

[Nitesh31]

Originally Posted by Vb

thats the only right way to drive a manual. it is most economic and if conditions allow, thats how you drive. in icy conditions, you would slow down downshifting. if you need to be ready to accelerate on a dime, you stay in a sufficiently low gear.


with this noisy engine and power dip in midrange, i notice that i upshit under 4k RPM, as if it was close to a red line and its natural power drop-off point.

gears 5 and 6 are essentially cruise gears. so you do all your acceleration with 1-4 and then for cruising, use 5 or 6 depending on speed. cruising at 2000RPM is ok, but surely there will be no acceleration.

This is relieving to hear. After driving down the 30 mph street I noticed that in sixth its actually around 1200... so I'll stick to fifth near 2000 to cruise since I don't need any acceleration. It seems fine and I'm getting 28.3 mpg for mostly city driving so I can't complain. No engine problems yet either.. fingers crossed

[frosty86]

By the way, when you downshift, is it okay to let go of the clutch during the short period of time the rpm needle is going up? (after you blip) or is it strictly letting go at the right rpm of the next gear?

[Max Schnell]

When downshifting the key is to make sure you are re-engaging the clutch at an rpm close to where the engine speed should end up at. Whether the rpms are still rising or has started to fall. Another thing is if you are not good at rev matching do not dump the clutch while shifting. A slight delay will allow the rpms to catch up or drop without major shock to the drivetrain. Yes it is slightly more wear on the clutch but it beats shocking the drive train.

If you try to rev match on downshift, dump the clutch and is way off you are now doing a clutch kick, which is a way to start a drift but terrible on the drive train.

[steeloyangster]

Shifting point for comfort/performance driving
When shifting for comfort it's all about the clutch engagement. Let off slowly, much more slowly than usual, to allow the engine speed to catch up with tranny/car speed. When you are comfortable with where your friction point is, tease that point when releasing the clutch pedal.

As far as performance is concerned, try to shift quickly without letting off the gas. Obviously this takes a toll on the drivetrain but if it's speed you're after then go this route. Don't do this while going into a corner or while cornering unless you want the tail end to slide out.

What to do when losing control
Depending on what speed you are at there are many things you can do to contain the loss of control to your car.

First stage is to try and regain control of your vehicle. The worst thing you can do is to jerk the car in the direction that you are trying to go. Your car is already unbalanced, you do not want to throw it at the other extreme which could magnify the force that you are already fighting. So don't slam on the brakes, don't jerk the wheel and don't lose control of your gas pedal. The best thing to do is to give it the right amount of throttle to hopefully push your car forward and stabilize the front tires to regain steering control.

When that fails and control is lost the next stage is to try and control the skid of the car. In this instance I'm using the example of going 50-60 MPH and your nose is pointed away from your planned trajectory and your tires are just sliding. To burn off speed and slow your car down in the same direction that you are heading so that you don't hit the guardrail, ram the gas into the floorboard to "spin" your car and face the opposite direction you are going. Steering control is extremely important in this situation because you do have an opportunity to stop going backwards or possibly even bring the car all the way back around. Obviously this is a lot of practice and experience. Go into an empty parking lot and practice these methods. Once you understand this technique, it'll be more intuitive if this ever happens to you. It's the strangest feeling ever to be going backwards or sideways in a skid at high speeds. But once you get used to this feeling and you understand that you still have control of the car then it won't be as bad if it catches you off guard.

Heel and Toe Technique
This is a technique used to enter a corner while braking at the latest point while still having the ability to change gears. For normal everyday driving it's kind of unnecessary but it is still a technique that I use normally just to keep the muscle memory up for the track. First thing's first, you need to know what kind of corners you are taking and at what speeds. Find a corner you can take safely at about 35-45 MPH. This maybe a long turn that you usually have to slow down at on a back road somewhere. I usually use this technique on a few turns that I have around here. This would usually be a corner/turn that you would leave in your regular cruising gear but when you come out of the turn you would have to downshift to get out faster.

So practice going in faster than normal and braking kind of hard in order to take the turn at a decent speed. Once you remember the brake timing and brake points at the entry of this turn then this is where you would practice the heel/toe technique. As you approach this turn, hit the brake points in which you have chosen as you would normally. But this time as you are about to take the foot off the brake to put it on the gas, hit the clutch, move your gear selector into second gear, reach over with your heel of your right foot to tap the throttle, lift off the clutch and move your right foot over to the gas pedal. This whole process happens nearly at the same time. Be careful to not more pressure on the brake pedal as you are heeling the gas pedal. The FRS/BRZ have a shorter gas pedal than the ones I have installed so the heel/toe technique is more difficult because you have to twist your foot further in order to heel your gas pedal.

Since you are in a lower gear during the turn, you need to "stay" on the gas in order to not slow yourself down through the turn. In a RWD vehicle it is very important to learn your throttle positions while in a turn. If you let off the gas during a turn while in a low gear you will drift or spin out. If you push the gas too hard you will drift or spin out. Find the friction circle of your car and feel the g-forces as you are taking a corner. Try to learn in an empty parking lot how much G-Forces it takes for you to break the rear-end of the car and try to stay inside of that circle. Try to feel the G-Forces move from the front of the vehicle to the rear. In the FRS it is VERY easy to feel these forces. You just have to pay attention to them.

Left Foot Braking
Obviously there are a lot of reasons to why you should use this technique. In an Automatic it allows you to get on the brakes and then back on the gas as quickly as possible, not having to wait to move your foot to get back on the throttle. But there are also other reasons to use this technique.

I personally love the left foot braking during really slow corners. So let's imagine that you are taking a series of hairpin turns that you are going to stay in second gear the whole time. Before you get to the turns, you slow down obviously, but once you move your foot over to the gas pedal your car's weight is neutral again. Tap the brake pedal with your left foot while your right foot is still a little on the gas. This shifts the weight of your vehicle to the front tires so when you jam your wheel to whatever direction you are going your car will turn more aggressively while you still have forward momentum from your foot being on the throttle. This is a hard tap and not a "hold both pedals during the turn" thing. A tire slowing down is a tire that cannot turn well.

Drifting
There are a lot of different techniques out there but I have always been a huge supporter of drifting using the throttle/weight shifting and not the E-Brake.

The E-Brake is an easy way of braking the tires loose and keeping the car sideways but doesn't teach anyone who isn't familiar with drifting anything. It's the easiest way to get sideways but certainly isn't the fastest through the corner. It's flashy but not really practical for high speed cornering. Before or during a turn, push down on the clutch to release the rear wheels from the engine and pull the E-Brake while holding the release button down. As the car's rear-end starts to slide drop the E-Brake and release the clutch. This will give you back control of the rear tires. Rinse/Repeat for upcoming corners. This is definitely a good way to get used to going sideways though. DO EXPECT FLAT SPOTS IN TIRES!!

Power-Oversteer: This happens when you go through the turn and while exiting you get on the gas to slide your tail out during a turn. This is favored by high torque Muscle cars and trucks. It's what the rednecks are always doing when leaving walmart when they see a V6 mustang while exiting the parking lot. Mostly for flash.

These other two techniques I'm not familiar with what they are called but I can describe them.

Before entering a corner you steer in the opposite direction of the corner just slightly to shift your weight away from the turn and then turn back in the direction of the corner. This throws your weight towards the rear wheels before the turn and you maintain higher than normal speed throughout the turn. You will have to maintain the drift throughout the whole corner but while exiting you point your nose towards your exit point and straighten out smoothly so that you have grip immediately when the track straightens out. This is a technique used for speed speed speed. Higher entry speed, higher through speed, and higher exit speed. That's the point of a drift. The original counter steer doesn't have to be dramatic either, it can be as subtle as a slight 5 degree change in the steering wheel then whipping it back in the other direction.

Another technique is to enter a corner at a higher than average speed. Once your nose won't point any closer towards the apex than you can get it, tap the clutch to break the back tires loose. Don't kick it all the way to the floor board but tease the clutch off the friction point. You want the engine to wind up just a little bit higher than before. But you have to regulate your rear tire speed as you break it loose. Too much throttle and you will spin out. Too little and you will under steer back and you risk whipping your car back the other way. Maintaining a precise and constantly changing throttle pressure is what assures you keep high speed. This technique can also be applied while in the same turn multiple times. You can use this on Entry, Apex, and Exit just to get into the right line that you want.

Argh, so much typing. Thanks if you read this!

[Grishbok]

Before entering a corner you steer in the opposite direction of the corner just slightly to shift your weight away from the turn and then turn back in the direction of the corner. This throws your weight towards the rear wheels before the turn and you maintain higher than normal speed throughout the turn. You will have to maintain the drift throughout the whole corner but while exiting you point your nose towards your exit point and straighten out smoothly so that you have grip immediately when the track straightens out. This is a technique used for speed speed speed. Higher entry speed, higher through speed, and higher exit speed. That's the point of a drift. The original counter steer doesn't have to be dramatic either, it can be as subtle as a slight 5 degree change in the steering wheel then whipping it back in the other direction.

This is called a feint drift or, inertial drift. You move the momentum of the car to the outside of the turn, then turn in hard to rotate it.

Another technique is to enter a corner at a higher than average speed. Once your nose won't point any closer towards the apex than you can get it, tap the clutch to break the back tires loose. Don't kick it all the way to the floor board but tease the clutch off the friction point. You want the engine to wind up just a little bit higher than before. But you have to regulate your rear tire speed as you break it loose. Too much throttle and you will spin out. Too little and you will under steer back and you risk whipping your car back the other way. Maintaining a precise and constantly changing throttle pressure is what assures you keep high speed. This technique can also be applied while in the same turn multiple times. You can use this on Entry, Apex, and Exit just to get into the right line that you want

This is a slip angle, I use this method a lot on wide verying degree turns to get a tighter line often letting me sneak an inch or two ahead of the car im about to overtake.

[mrlewistan]

Originally Posted by fiveoneoh

dude,what? there is a light that tells you when to shift? I don't recall seeing it when I test drove a MT. how annoying,it's like a saturn! please clarify!

Here you go buddy. It less confusing than reading how to do it lol
http://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3...nmYdk62Hcz&s=1

[steeloyangster]

Originally Posted by Grishbok

This is called a feint drift or, inertial drift. You move the momentum of the car to the outside of the turn, then turn in hard to rotate it.



This is a slip angle, I use this method a lot on wide verying degree turns to get a tighter line often letting me sneak an inch or two ahead of the car im about to overtake.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Since I don't really talk to anybody about these techniques I don't really remember what they are called. I just use them on/off the track and nobody really asks me about what I do. Most of my buddies also aren't "into" cars so I don't get a chance to talk to anyone about this stuff.