Need some advice on driving 6MT

[naikaidriver]

You have been driving a manual car for just over a week. Forget you have ever heard the phrases, "heel toe" and "rev matching" until you've mastered the basics. You don't go base-jumping before you learn to skydive and you don't learn to cliff dive before you learn to swim. Performance driving techniques are dangerous in the real world and even more so when attempted by an inexperienced driver.

That said, while I won't discount the efforts of people here to help you, (the ones that gave proper advice), the best advice is to get personalized instruction and stop trying to learn from people on the internet. I realize that this is a difficult concept for some younger people these days but you will learn faster, and be less likely to develop bad habits by having someone with you, in your car that is experienced and dedicated to teaching you.

If you're interested in performance driving, I would STRONGLY recommend you look up your local chapter of the SCCA and find a Street Survival Course, or High Performance Drivers' Education event. You will find "real" competitors there who's sole purpose is to provide instruction. The lessons you will get there will be far more valuable than anything you will ever read on the internet.

Best of luck to you.

Scott

[CaptainSlow]

Yeah, forgot to mention that. It took me about 6 months to just get used to my first manual transmission. Just take it slow until you have the basics down 100%. You'll know you're at that point when you don't even think about any of that stuff anymore...you just do it on instinct. Selecting gears becomes natural...you just sort of do it automatically based on what your eyes see ahead. I can't even remember the last time I have stopped to think "is this a second gear corner or a third gear corner?". After a while it all just becomes second nature. Once you get there, you can start to think about "heel toe" and "rev matching". Hell, I still haven't figured out heel-toe and I've been driving MT's for about 10 years now.

[cwb48]

Originally Posted by Clembo

After 50+ years of driving only a manual, I can't even put 'how' into words. It's like trying to describe how to breathe...

Yeah, me too, though only 47 years now. Experience on motorcycles helps with shifting too. My first car was a '62 MGA, and it mystifies me when people complain about the transmission in this car- although my '91 Sentra SER had a better one, this one's pretty good.

Sorry, a little off topic, but OP, you're going to need at least a couple of years to learn the fine art of manual shifting.

[Sarlacc]

There is no reason to heel-toe shift in normal traffic on public roads.
If you want to learn how to heel-toe shift properly, do it on the track, and wait until driving a stick feels natural and comfortable in all traffic situations.
Stay safe and be gentle with your car.

[thill]

Originally Posted by naikaidriver

You have been driving a manual car for just over a week. Forget you have ever heard the phrases, "heel toe" and "rev matching" until you've mastered the basics. You don't go base-jumping before you learn to skydive and you don't learn to cliff dive before you learn to swim. Performance driving techniques are dangerous in the real world and even more so when attempted by an inexperienced driver.

That said, while I won't discount the efforts of people here to help you, (the ones that gave proper advice), the best advice is to get personalized instruction and stop trying to learn from people on the internet. I realize that this is a difficult concept for some younger people these days but you will learn faster, and be less likely to develop bad habits by having someone with you, in your car that is experienced and dedicated to teaching you.

If you're interested in performance driving, I would STRONGLY recommend you look up your local chapter of the SCCA and find a Street Survival Course, or High Performance Drivers' Education event. You will find "real" competitors there who's sole purpose is to provide instruction. The lessons you will get there will be far more valuable than anything you will ever read on the internet.

Best of luck to you.

Scott

This. It is like anything in life. You have to first master the basics before you start trying to do heel-toe and rev matching. Walk before you run..

[post_break]

Originally Posted by Takuro

Wayyy to tedious to run down the gears like that for the 100-200 ft of braking before a turn.

How else are you going to let everyone know you're a race car driver? Kidding aside I walk down every gear for every turn, just habit.

[5th 86]

100 percent agree with ppl who say forget heel toe and rev match, there is much greater chance to get yourself in trouble when you have so little experience driving mt. Stick with the basics and dont lug the engine, personally i think 5th gear is on thw edge of whats acceptable for 45mph, this car does best on fuel i find in between the 3000 and 5000 range. Gas is cheap for this car so dont worry about keeping the revs down to save gas cause its better to be in the right gear, having power and torque on the road incase of emergency manuvers than save a minor amount of fuel gambling your life and car.
Personally if i was going 45mph and i had to make a right turn, i would probably be in 4th from half a block away i would shift to 3rd and just let it coast to slow down applying brake as nesessary to keep space with the car in the front(if there is one) when the speed is 20-30 mph shift to 2nd should be close to the corner now and just drive through the corner. And like someone said if your braking keep the car in gear, when the revs drop below 2000 you should down shift this should work all the time during regular driving. Spending on gas and tires, seat time is the only way to learn and get better, after you learn the basics then you should try to rev match after that then learn heal toe. Trying to rev match and heel toe after a couple days of driving is really not a good idea. And always keep power on the ground meaning dont coast with the clutch depressed.

[Luis_GT]

Sorry... didnt know heel toe and rev matching was so hard for the average human... took me a week to master it... then again my mustang had the perfect setup for heel toe downshifting...

I do rev matching everytime I drop a gear... but I always had the mentality of smooth shifting even when I started learning manual.

As far as more constructive advise... learn to get the car rolling by only using the clutch... it makes it natural to find the perfect engagement point of the clutch, makes taking speedbumps a breeze as you just let the engine's idle speed get you over the bump

[shu5892001]

This is my first manual car, I can't say I mastered heel-toe but I do it all the same in everyday driving. The pedal is setup perfectly for heel-toe

[naikaidriver]

Originally Posted by Luis_GT

Sorry... didnt know heel toe and rev matching was so hard for the average human... took me a week to master it... then again my mustang had the perfect setup for heel toe downshifting...

I do rev matching everytime I drop a gear... but I always had the mentality of smooth shifting even when I started learning manual.

As far as more constructive advise... learn to get the car rolling by only using the clutch... it makes it natural to find the perfect engagement point of the clutch, makes taking speedbumps a breeze as you just let the engine's idle speed get you over the bump

I wasn't aware that we had Ken Bock on the forums. Who knew?

Scott

[Luis_GT]

Originally Posted by naikaidriver

I wasn't aware that we had Ken Bock on the forums. Who knew?

Scott

No ken block... I've never drifted, but learning manual was almost second nature me.

[naikaidriver]

Originally Posted by Luis_GT

No ken block... I've never drifted, but learning manual was almost second nature me.

That's great that you have some natural ability but saying you've "mastered" heel-toe in a week is like saying that you speak fluent Japanese just because you learned how to say "arigato".

Making statements like that is a complete misrepresentation of your skills and a will not earn you any points from people who know anything abut performance driving or racing. Those types of statements will end up with you being lumped into the same group of people that say their car has 300hp to the wheels because they installed an intake.

Scott

[Luis_GT]

Originally Posted by naikaidriver

That's great that you have some natural ability but saying you've "mastered" heel-toe in a week is like saying that you speak fluent Japanese just because you learned how to say "arigato".

Making statements like that is a complete misrepresentation of your skills and a will not earn you any points from people who know anything abut performance driving or racing. Those types of statements will end up with you being lumped into the same group of people that say their car has 300hp to the wheels because they installed an intake.

Scott

I should have said I picked up heal toe easily rather than mastered... meh... English is my second language...

[Ryuu0u]

This is my first manual car also and i'm doing decent so far. Just one question. Traffic on a huge hill oh my way home from work. How the hell do you manage that? I've managed it on a motorcyle but that was using the rear brake to keep from rolling back but. Not entirely sure how to handle it in a car.