I’m doing the driving lessons and I dread them every time. I don’t feel like I’m improving much and it’s just stressful. I feel like giving up. I’m only going because I passed the theory exam with that school, and i would had to spend more money (that I don’t have) if I start again with other school, basically I’m too deep into it to stop.
Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option, one less BIG distraction on the road, especially when you’re new on these things, being too soft or too rough on the clutch is a matter of millimeters is ridiculous, watching the road, the signs, the traffic lights, the cars around you, the stupid people with their bikes, while fumbling in the car with the pedals is the worst… (unfortunately you must learn manual where I’m living).
I taught my older daughter to drive a manual car and I really wish I had a reasonable manual car to teach my younger daughter. She will learn, but it will be like driving a tank. Not the most fun.
Your hate towards manual transmissions is exactly why it’s now an anti-theft device. If the thieves don’t show to drive it, it won’t be stolen.
My oldest daughter is trying to buy a manual transmission car now. It’s very hard to find…
Practice your manual driving in a big open parking lot or something. Somewhere you don’t have to worry about rules of the road while still figuring out your muscle memory for shifting. Like everything else, it’ll become second nature in time.
My two cents: don’t look at anything inside that car at all. Listen to the engine to know when to shift, go a speed that feels comfortable and is a bit slower than other cars. Forgive yourself when the engine stalls or you drive in the ‘wrong’ gear for a bit. If you got behind the wheel and didn’t hit anything, you’re won driving.
Yep! In my experience it’s awful and it stays awful for ever.
But just like with going to work, over time you come to accept that existence is suffering.
I was very daunted by driving when I started, especially when I had to drive a really old clunky low-power diesel Mercedes with my overly critical dad and big brother yelling at me.
Didn’t take long for it to become second nature, and I actually drove taxis for several years.
It literally just takes a while for your brain to get accustomed to everything. Yes, youre right in that a manual can be a distraction from learning traffic, but it really doesn’t take long for the shifting to become very natural, and then you can pay attention to the traffic.
As for actual tips on the clutch, it’s not really as much a matter of millimeters, as it is about the balance between throttle and clutch. Don’t be afraid to give it a bit more gas to makeita sure you won’t stop the car even if you let go of the clutch slower. Yes it will sound a bit like a student driver, revving the car “needlessly”, but you are a student driver and it isn’t needless revving, because you’re still learning the feel for the clutch.
It also depend a lot on the make and model of the car the school has. It’s a bit of a personal preference, but clutches are really different in different cars. You might really like a 90’s Mercedes with a reeaally long clutch, but that too takes getting a bit used to. I remember the cars my car school had were fairly new Ford’s, and they had really short clutches. Annoyed me as well.
Honestly took me less than a year of driving and I knew how to shift without a clutch. Some really old 70’s sand lorries my dad used to drive didn’t have clutches, so he taught me how to (in some cars it works some don’t really like it, but basically you could do it in all manual cars, without damaging the gearbox if you do it properly); when accelerating, just as you let go of the throttle, like 0.5sec after that there’s a short period where you can just pull the gear to neutral without any resistance. That’s easy. Shifting into gear from neutral without clutch isn’t as easy, but in some cars, not much of a challenge. You need to rev the engine to match the rpm, but like with a short press of the gas pedal, which revs the rpm higher than it needs to, then when the rpm is coming down there’s a window where you can shift into gear really easily.
I ramble, you don’t need to thin about that.
I would suggest, if possible (idk if you have a learners permit or smth and can drive under parent supervision), to practice driving on highways and country roads for less traffic to learn the car better. If not, maybe ask your teacher on the next lesson if you could do that.
And if not, if you have to drive in the city, the most important is just to remember that the panic and rudeness you feel isn’t something which should make you hurry. People will be annoyed, but you have a right to annoy them, as you’re learning. It’s a shit thing, being a learning driver, but once you get your licence and get to take the car on a long drive yourself on some chill roads, you might actually enjoy the driving because the stress won’t be there. And then learning will become easier as well, when your heart isn’t beating through your chest with someone watching over you.
Just keep at it. You know what to do. Now it’s just a bit of repetition.
Edit oh and ask anything if you like, 3rd gen taxi driver, drove since 2007 (not driving currently). No stupid questions exist. So anything at all, go ahead.
Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option
This is a big problem with people these days. You admitted you suck at driving, you’re just barely learning how to do it, but you think you’re qualified to mandate what is available to everyone else? You do not have enough experience to have an opinion that affects other people. Stick shift is completely intuitive when you know how to do it.
Not OP, not a bad driver, have a class A (used to drive a school bus), and can drive stick.
I still think automatic is safer just on the merit of being less to think about. Especially when you have an extra large vehicle filled with kids.
The thinking involved in driving a manual is very minimal once you get used to it, so I reckon any safety issues caused by that would be outweighed by a reduction in the unfortunately common situation of unintended acceleration crashes. You are lot less likely to drive through the nearest wall (or kids) if your instinctual reaction to moving when you should not be is to also go for the clutch and cut power instead of just pressing harder on the wrong pedal.
I taught my kids to drive using an automatic transmission, then once they were good at handling traffic, and all the more difficult parts of driving I let whoever wanted to learn to drive my stick shift. But I personally feel safer, not less safe, when I have to pay attention to operating the car, and as things stand now, think it makes me a better driver - that may not matter once cars are more advanced but for now, with driver-operated cars, stick shift is the right level of engagement for me to not get distracted. I do hate shifting motorcycles though, because I am not as familiar with it and it makes me feel less safe. Which is how I imagine OP feels.
I can’t imagine not shifting a motorcycle. It’s like being part of the bike. But I’ve ridden for 30+ years.
Yeah, it’s definitely an inexperience/lack of skill problem on my part. I know that because of how much I love manual shift cars. Anything with two wheels I am just trying to keep upright and point it in the right direction.
Riding a motorcycle has always been pretty intuitive to me, but I grew up glued to my bicycle, so it all clicked pretty fast once I learned how to manage the extra weight.
See this is so alien to me because I’ve been exclusively driving a manual my entire adult life and I don’t think about it. No more than I think about which pedal is the gas, which is the brake, and which direction the car goes when I turn the wheel this way. I just drive.
deleted by creator
I think you missed my point
Nope. You dont enjoy driving, by your own admission arent good at it but want to deprive people who are good at it of their options.
If your crap in bed do I have to stick to missionary for the rest of my life too?
What
Your logic makes no sense
Automatic should be the only option
Because you seem to be incapable of recalling what you said.
You are being called out for having zero knowledge and then declaring what should be allowed.
Is literally one less big distraction on the road dude, yeah after I dunno how many hundreds of hours becomes less of a problem but it is now
It definitely gets easier in my experience. A lot of the things that take conscious effort right now are going to become reflexes and automatisms with more experience. Right now you are building that experience, and there isn’t really a way to speed it up. You just need to do each action dozens and hundreds of times, until you do it without thinking.
Driving a manual car, for example, is definitely more complex than an automatic one. You literally need to manage one more thing. But do not worry about it, you will change gears a lot during your practice sessions and build a lot of experience quickly. In a few months you will probably not think much about gears, and in a few years you will be managing them without giving it a single thought.
Fun anecdote, I recently got a new car and it is an automatic one while I previously only drove manuals. For a few days I couldn’t figure out how to start smoothly, and I was very confused… until I realized that starting mostly involved the clutch on my previous car. The first movements of my right foot used to be to keep the rpm under control while disengaging the clutch, which is just not needed on an automatic car. I was simply applying the same muscle memory to the new car without realizing it!
I’ve definitely tried to press in the clutch on an automatic a couple of times
Oh yeah, I know what you mean! I keep unconsciously reaching for the stick 😂
Your middle seat passenger doesn’t seem to mind so much.
Lol same
being too soft or too rough on the clutch is a matter of millimeters is ridiculous
On this point specifically, don’t think of it as millimetres of distance. You act based on how the car responds, not trying to hit a specific distance of pedal movement. You already do the same thing with your other foot - you don’t think “I need to press the accelerator down 55 mm”, you just press it a bit more or a bit less until the car is going the speed you want it to go at. Same deal with the clutch, there just isn’t a dial on the dashboard that tells you where you currently have it.
You’re right that driving involves processing a lot of information at once that nobody is particularly familiar with absorbing when they start. It is difficult and dangerous. That’s why there are tests and licences. But in much the same way that typing was once completely alien to you and is now something you do with little active thought, you’ll get there soon enough with the clutch too. And if you learn it now, you’ll never be caught out in a situation when there isn’t an automatic option available
Exactly. Driving is a continuous real-time control process, with PID loops for speed, steering, clutch, etc.
Skill issue
It becomes easy with practice, and driving a manual is not distracting at all once you get the hang of it
I think the roads would be safer everybody drove a manual. It makes it harder for drivers to do other things and be distracted.
Not really, most people here in Germany drive a manual and it doesn’t stop them from using their phone while driving
“Operating death machine is safer if it’s more difficult” is definitely a take
I have a car that’s both auto and manual and I use them both but I cannot agree with that.
With enough practice, driving becomes second nature to the point that you don’t really think about it. This goes triple for manual transmission cars because you have so much control over the behaviour of the vehicle that it almost feels.like.an extension of yourself. The learning curve is a pain but the payoff is worth it.
It’s really hard to imagine when you are trying to learn. You just have to trust it will happen. You are basically training unconscious parts of your brain, and at some point all the hardness just vanishes and some unconscious part of your brain just magically does all the hard stuff for you without you thinking about it.
Manual transmissions are operated almost entirely by “feel”. Once that sinks in, it’s a lot easier.
If you can, go find a quiet street, parking lot, or any place with an incline. Practice stopping in the middle of the incline and taking off without stalling. Don’t stress out when you inevitably stall. You will and that’s ok. If you can master starting on a hill, you’ll find that the rest of it comes a lot easier.
With the transmision in 1st and your foot on the brake, release the clutch very slowly until the engine starts dragging just a little. Slowly take your foot off the brake. You’ll know the clutch is in the right spot if it keeps you from rolling backwards. At that point, start to accelerate and let the clutch out slowly. Continue to accelerate and up the hill you go.
Don’t hesitate to hit the brakes at any time if you feel like you’re going to roll backwards. Better to stall than to roll back into someone behind you. Depending on the gearing, you may be able to start in 2nd and that will keep you from having to worry about shifting in the middle of the hill.
Don’t panic. Learning is good. If someone gets upset with you because you’re inexperienced and stall out then screw them. They should try to remember what it was like to learn how to drive. It just takes practice, practice, and more practice.
Your trouble with the clutch and watching the road, that will definitely get easier with practice.
But what always remains stressful is that lots of drivers are insane cunts. As in, they should be in a psychiatry. They’ll tailgate you, if you have the audacity to drive the speed limit.
And well, other factors can be at play. I’ve probably got some flavor of autism, so having everything around me rattle and explode, and needing to constantly pay attention to the road, that stresses me out due to sensory overload. Even after multiple years of practice, I’m more than glad to walk to the shops.
You need seat time. You’ll get better the more you do it, until driving is instinctual. Avoiding doing it is how you don’t learn.
I learned to drive using a manual transmission vehicle. I spent a lot of time in empty parking lots, then in empty subdivision roads. It sucked, and having my dad as a teacher made things worse (he had a bit of a temper). As you stated, learning the clutch friction point for your vehicle is crucial (and it’s different in every model of car, so that’s fun), but once you get that down, the rest falls into place pretty easily.
I have had 4 vehicles since I got my license, and only the most recent one is automatic. I much prefer driving manual, but they’re getting increasingly difficult to find outside of sports cars.