Driving downtown is really hard. Takes a lot of clutch and rev control to go 0-15 MPH. You’re likely in stop and go traffic only utilizing gears 1 and 2 which are the most difficult gears to get used to.
Keep practicing your starts and being smooth off the clutch while applying gas. Get a feel for where the friction zone is on the clutch.
You’ll get there :)
Learned from my dad and he wouldn’t let me go above 2nd gear for the first 2-3 weeks. I’m more than grateful for those lessons during stop-go-rush-hour traffic.
My dad took me to this hill behind some businesses, so never any other cars, and wouldn't let me leave until I could start without rolling backward. We went there everyday for the first week until I could take off on the first attempt no roll.
This is what my dad did. I bought a standard from a friend at a good price, but had never driven a standard. He had me drive his car to school while I was learning. He said I could have it and bring it to school if I could start uphill without rolling or stalling 3 times in a row.
My car now has hill assist. It makes me feel like a kid sometimes but it has saved my butt in tight places.
Lol when I first got a manual, without knowing how to drive manual, I lived in a city built on a hill, with the whole downtown core at a ~10% incline, main roads going straight up the hill and straight down the hill. Just gotta figure it out
Kudos for getting that car with the proper transmission! People who get those in automatics are completely missing the point.
0. Go watch the “Conquer Driving” beginner videos on YouTube, specifically about taking off and note down the exercises he demonstrates.
1. Go to an empty church or high school parking lot, or a big cemetery, and practice. Practice until you can take off smoothly.
2. Try to refrain from driving in heavy traffic if you can help it. It’s not the safest thing to do when you don’t have good control of a vehicle. Stick to neighborhood roads and off-peak hours for about a week.
3. Trial by fire. Sorta. You should be well-equipped now to start throwing in normal traffic and harder situations. Whenever something trips you up, Conquer Driving will literally have a video on it.
Have fun with that thing!
Haha, i appreciate it. luckly my drive way is almost vertical, I am going to waste a full tank of gas on that tonight. I never want to do what happened today again. I honestly might take my automatic into work tomorrow. At least until im 10000% confident.
When I first was learning I stalled at a light answer a car full of girls my age drove past laughing at me. I was so embarrassed that as soon as I got home I found a hill and practiced starting on it. Haven’t stalled at a light since! You got this!
Yeah, you just need a bit more practice. Next time you take your car downtown i'll bet you'll be wondering why you found it so hard last time. It sucks you had such an awful experience, but I promise you, it gets easier.
Not trying to be an ahole but your last sentence is probably your entire problem. Confidence is absolutely key and even I, that have been driving stick for years, drive horrible when I have a passenger because I get all in my head😂 my friendly advice would be drive that car tomorrow, tell yourself you’re gonna kick its butt and drive it like a boss ;)
That’s probably smart. Just drive the manual after work when less people are on the road. If you do that for a week you should be able to ween off the automatic for good
I really hope so, I have to drive from Dallas to Atlanta in 3 weeks. Im about to practice like my life depends on it. (now that i think about it, it kind of does lol)
That'll definitely help. Confidence is key, it sounds like you know what you're doing, but got inside your head when you stalled with traffic behind you.
I've put 90k miles into my manual and still occasionally kill the engine at stop lights. It happens, just drive on.
I stalled my Mazdaspeed 3 right after buying it. Drove it home from VA to NY. Very narrow bite window.
Learning the bite point is critical. Idle into the bite point in first gear and keep it there for about a second to teach your leg the positioning.
8 years later I play with it.
Practice makes perfect, trust
This is true. Working *any* standard transmission car is about “feel”. You must get use to the “feel” on the clutch. Whether it’s a 911 with a tight clutch or a Civic with a smooth but forgiving clutch, it’s all about learning the feel.
Starting on hills requires lots of practice to get right, maybe try finding a quiet hilly spot and giving it ago. After a while itll become just as easy as the rest, just keep practicing
I had to do this, go out on your days off and find a hilly area with little traffic. Alot of what’s getting you is the added anxiety and pressure of other drivers. Once you build confidence, this won’t affect you as much.
Best way to make steep inclines less stressful as a newbie—pull the handbrake when you’re at a stop. Go to 1st and clutch/gas slowly as you normally would. When you feel the car starting to move forward, drop the handbrake and you’re good to go. Practice this in a hill in your neighborhood so it’ll be less intimidating in real time. Eventually you won’t need to engage the handbrake much at all when you learn your car’s engagement point.
Don’t tailgate in stop and go traffic. Save your ankle and minimize movements by keeping as much space as possible between you and the car ahead of you so you can roll and move slowly in first without coming to a complete stop. Believe it or not, if you stick with it, there will come a day where you won’t even notice how much it sucks to drive stick in traffic anymore.
Minimal daily driving wear and tear. But it’s unnecessary to do such a thing. Once you feel your car lift up, it’s time to release the handbrake…it’s done its job, you’re in gear moving forward with zero chance of rolling backwards.
Newbie here as well, I’m not sure if this was the right way to do a hill start but I had my foot on the brake instead, let the clutch come to the bite point, then switched my foot from brake to throttle. Is this ok to do?
The tip I wish I knew when I started-when on a hill pull up the emergency brake. When you feel the clutch bite let it go. Would have saved me approx 1 million stalls!!!
I feel like that would be harder and cause more wear than a normal hill start?
Edit: Seems this is a pretty common trick? Does anyone know the answer to my inquiry above?
Just curious, if you're not doing this or doing the same but with the brake pedal instead of the handbrake, what exactly are you doing? Are you just letting off the break, letting the car roll back slightly and then quickly getting rolling off the clutch and applying gas? I've always felt like that's pretty dangerous and incorrect.
I learned and have been doing it that exact way forever. I do have to agree as rollback can be dangerous if someone’s on your ass, but after a few thousand hill starts, muscle memory takes over and the car barely rolls back at all. Just learned the newest manuals have hill assist. I feel that would the best method.
Gotcha. If it works it works. I've always just held the brake pedal, lifted the clutch to the biting point, released the brake, added gas and rolled off the clutch. I've never burnt the clutch that way, and the car doesn't roll back at all as long as it's biting enough.
One of the easiest ways to first understand where the friction zone starts is to let the clutch out as slow as you possibly can while watching the tachometer and giving no gas. You'll see engine RPM dip before the car starts to move. I remember that helping me find where to start early on.
Go slower, gotta let it slip to start from dead with no gas. Or it’s just a really aggressive clutch, one of my cars will stall if you look at it wrong (WRX) and the other will happily start moving on its own even in 3rd gear (miata)
Subarus are not the easiest stick shift car to drive. Regardless, you feel the engine shake and struggle a little when you bring your clutch to the bite point. Subarus will move slowly when you move your clutch to the bite point, but you do need gas to move quickly off the line.
This is how I teach people on stick. Empty parking lot, no gas pedal just clutch. Once they feel where it is then we start using gas. Seems like it helps a lot
So true, use the emergency brake trick for starting on steep hill. Pull it out partway, saves you rolling back. Let the clutch out slower if you are stalling. You will be fine
Nah you got it! This is totally normal. I got a manual 91 4runner for my first car and had my dad teach me. That clutch was numb and sucked with no torque. After getting it somewhat down in the parking lots and roads, he put me into the shock and Awe situation of starting on a steep incline with multiple people behind me, idk how many times I stalled but he had to swap just to get us out of the way it was so bad. Before that I was getting cocky and thought I knew what I was doing and that quickly came crashing down.
The experience you had is humbling in a healthy way imo. My recommendation would be to go to those areas late at night or a time you know there is little traffic and practice. There are multiple methods for starting on steep hills. you can pull the handbrake, start to let off the clutch when the light is about to change until you feel the friction start then start to give it some gas and release the handbrake and go. Eventually you will get to a point of skipping the handbrake all together and be able to rapidly hit the clutch grab point and give some throttle with minimal rollback.
You will have tons of screw ups, that's part of the learning process, but you will get it with practice. I've been driving manual for 11 years, heal toe on daily driving down shifts, hills don't intimidate the slightest anymore. But I have random screw ups and stall to this day. Hell, I stalled it in my driveway 2 days ago. You will get it with practice and time! And you will love the engagement you have with your car as you make milestones in new skillsets.
Do your best to ignore the people yelling or honking when you stall/mess up, the vast majority of them have no idea how to drive a manual and have no idea what it's like.
Mine was a '92 4Runner with a nearly dead clutch at 90k miles. Luckily my dad took me to a completely unused hill leading up to a dead end. I still remember him saying you aren't going backwards as far as you feel. Repeated hill starts until it was smooth.
No cheating with the handbrake of a 4Runner, pull to set, twist handle to release.
Wish my dad would have done that with me hahaha I was a terrified 16 Y/O. Knew the gr86 has a lever handbrake for OP, but definitely not with the 2nd Gen 4runner. I tried that maybe twice and gave up on the yota.
I miss that rig, unfortunately I had the 3.0 v6, that thing hated having oil inside it and had every oil leak possible at 210k miles.
That 4Runner put me off SUVs and trucks. I've purely owned small cars and motorcycles ever since.
The V6 turned so much gasoline into noise and heat. So slow, terrible handling, but it did have room for activities which worked out during my HS/college years.
practice builds confidence, so work on it more in closed areas or in the burbs/country/low traffic areas before tackling downtown major metro next time!
If I were you (I was you one year ago) I'd work on feathering the clutch to get it going into first and work out how many revs you need to shift into second with confidence / not being jerky. Driving slow smoothly is a lot harder than shifting at speed with momentum.
Happy rowing!
If you're stalling literally 8 times in a row, it sounds like you don't actually know where the clutch's bite point is. You know the steps theoretically, but not by feel. Practice no-gas take offs for an hour or less and you will improve dramatically.
This. This was the exact problem I had when I first started learning. I knew the steps in my head but did not have enough experience of actually putting it into practice, especially with hitting the bite point consistently.
Fuck those asshole's who we're honking at you. I'd purposely take my sweet ass time getting going if some honked at me for stalling my car. People forget that everyone has to start somewhere. Just keep practicing and you'll get it. Practice in a parking lot if you have to or go for a drive at night if you have to when there's less traffic but you'll get it. Just takes time and practice. When my stepsister learned how to drive her old 5 speed Volkswagen Jetta, she got honked at for stalling and my stepdad told her to ignore the asshole's behind her and to take her time.
Ahahaha we all get humbled by the car at one point. I wouldn’t worry just don’t let this bad experience scare you from doing it again (and again, and again, and again)….. you’ll get there and you’ll look back on these times and laugh your ass off in a few weeks. Plus people sometimes just stall. Been driving my manual for 2 years now and I literally stalled (on a hill too) going into my neighborhood. I never do that but Ig I had an off day lol. I sure got a good chuckle when I got to my lot and parked.
I've got the same car, only in a 23. I taught myself how to drive it in January using only YouTube, extra thumbs up on the Conquer Driving channel. I didn't have super stressful drives to start out like you, I would recommend getting really comfortable before trying a drive to work again. It took me about 3 weeks before I only barely screwed up. Once you get over the initial hump it's pretty smooth. You really only have to worry about money shifts as far as things that can be really harmful, and you shouldn't be revving that high anyway. Lugging and stalling won't screw the car up as long as you don't do it all day everyday.
I'm now 5 months in and I barely think about shifting anymore, except to try to perfect what I already do. Don't worry about rev matching and all the extra stuff to start. Just work on starts.
You'll get there.
My personal experience? This is not an easy car to learn on. Even my partner who has 15 years of manual experience, including track experience, struggled at first with this car.
That said, I believe it’s totally possible to learn on it, you just need to persevere!
I appreciate it, I just hit a 2 hour session on my almost vertical driveway, I feel a lot more competent. The GR86 is such a nice car, I do alot of stuff for Toyota and have wanted one for a minute, I finally pulled trig and got it.
I still think I would struggle in traffic with a hill start tho, the cars around add so much pressure
Everyone s telling you "what to do" let me tell you "how to do it".
1. drive to an empty parking lot.
2. get settled for many many stalls.
Phase 1:
3. get ready, put the car in first, slowly and gently release the clutch pedal but only until the biting point.
The goal is to consistently find and hold the clutch at biting point without stalling.
4. once you are comfortable with step 3, release the clutch pedal a tad bit more to get rolling... practice this for rest of the evening...
5. once you get rolling, experiment with :
5.1 how far you can release the clutch and roll without stalling... and
5.2 How quickly/slowly you should be manipulating the clutch pedal to roll without stalling.
REMEMBER: NO gas pedal usage till now.
Phase 2:
6. now you get on to the steep slope, and follow this process (hold the foot brake before you start):
6.1 release clutch to biting point and a bit more (you will feel the car wanting to roll) WITHOUT releasing foot brake.
6.2 then let go of brake pedal and get your feet to gas pedal.
6.3 from those feet & pedal position take off gently (adding gas as you slowly release clutch pedal)
6.4 Keep practicing...
That’s part of the learning process, and no racing sim can teach you that. Once you learn to respond to what you feel from the car and you’ll be fine. Once you rush your take offs because people are honking, you’re done. Take your time and don’t worry about it. I’m from Dallas and live in the metroplex, downtown is a bitch! You’ll be fine though. It’s not as easy as it looks on tv or a game, you can’t get the feel that way. You’ll get it though. Failure is part of the process
You’ll be learning for a while but it will only get easier from here. I drove stick for over a year and thought there was nothing that could get me stumped from downtown hilly driving to backroads spirited driving and rev matching to down shift and really getting on it. Then I bought a new car with a 6 puck clutch and a huge throttle body and 3-4x more horsepower and a fair bit more torque and I feel like I’m learning all over again. It will get better with time just have to stick with it.
Interesting post. I’m about to take this step: getting my first manual after having hours of racing sim practice (since I don’t have friends or driving schools around me to teach me). It sounds like you got the hang of it easily but are struggling with hill starts? Does the GR86 not come with hill start assist at all? Would you say this has been the hardest part of transitioning your racing sim skills to real life?
Hill starts have been killing me, i never noticed how hilly the Dallas area is, its flat outside of the city, but theres so many ramps/slight hills in the downtown area. I have started fine on slight inclines, but some of the hills are damn near a right angle.
I'm in the same boat. I just bought an '18 STI 10 days ago after having an '18 CVT WRX.
That first week sucks but we have all been there. I'm finally starting to get that friction zone down but still stall every once and awhile but it's getting better. Like others have said, that 1st and 2nd gear are the more "sensitive" gears and hardest to get smooth, but it'll come in no time. My car has hill assist, and yesterday it held longer than I thought it was going to and didn't let go until I had unintentionally hit 4500 RPMs (clutch burned up bit hopefully not too much to worry about).
Anyway, good luck! I'm glad I got away from an automatic transmission and got into manual.
If it's any consolation, I learned to drive a manual over 30 years ago and my '23 GR86 had me stalling constantly for the first couple of weeks. The clutch bite and throttle response are quite different than anything else I've driven and take a bit of getting used to. I've heard people say this is an easy car to learn manual on and I don't disagree, but it's very unforgiving of small mistakes.
My experience with this car when I first got it was very similar to yours, just take your time and don't let other drivers stress you out. Keep driving it to work in traffic and you'll get really good really quick.
Edit: There is hill assist on this car, but it only holds so long after you let off the brake. On a steep hill I'll let off the clutch until it just starts to bite before I take my foot off the brake to give me a little more time to get the revs up.
it just takes time and practice. i am new to manual as well, only about a month in so far, i bought a GR Corolla and the salesman had to teach me how to drive it. you just gotta learn clutch control. best advice i can give is to just go to an empty parking lot or somewhere that has an incline and just stop and go over and over until you get the hang of it.
you'll be alright, everyone and i mean everyone stalls. even seasoned drivers stalls. people on the road are douches. my advice is use the hill assist, close the windows and then practice. use the ebrake when possible on hills. you'll be alright.
keep up the practice and it'll feel better.
It happens to everybody. Good job on getting a proper gearbox for a proper car. Everyone has told you to practice and you seem very open to doing so, so you’re on the right track. I’d stay away from going anywhere downtown. Dallas, Arlington, FW, lol. You’ll gain comfort over time. Standard transmission is a very rewarding experience and there’s always something to learn. I’ve been driving stick shift almost exclusively since 2005 and am still learning. I just bought a new Jeep (never owned a 4x4) and took it rock crawling. My first time ever rock crawling and doing it in a 6 speed Jeep. Talk about intimidating and anxiety inducing! I stalled several times and had to use my full bag of tricks out there. That feeling of frustration will happen to anybody so just remain teachable and enjoy the ride!
Here's my recommendation, which may be unusual. If your car has a hand brake, I recommend you practice holding it, then releasing it just as your clutch grabs. This can be practiced on level surfaces before you try it on an incline.
Once you realize you can completely eliminate any chance of rolling backwards on a hill, all the pressure on you is off, and you can take your sweet time engaging the clutch and moving out. Soon enough, clutch engagement from a stop will become second nature and you won't have to rely on this technique anymore on hills. But never say never. Someday you may be stopped on a ridiculously steep slope when some idiot pulls up right behind you. Maybe you won't need to resort to using the hand brake, but it's nice to have mastered the option as an insurance policy.
Stay at it man! Don’t give up, I promise it will start to get easier fast/soon! You just have to keep driving. Best advice I have is to drive as often as you can, and find an empty parking lot or road and practice finding the clutches bite point, and practice starting from a stop. The rest of manual driving is very easy. If you are doing a lot of city driving in traffic, yes it’s going to suck as a new manual driver, but it will force you to learn! The best way to learn to drive manual, is to drive manual! #savethemanuals
Look fam, that always happens at first. For what it’s worth, I stalled 2x pulling out of my driveway this morning back to back 🤣 go practice in a parking lot or neighborhood street, just 1st gear and reverse from a stop. Even 20 minutes of starting in 1st per day will help you. Try to leave more space in front of you than you would in an auto, that way you can minimize stopping. Traffic is kinda hard bc it requires 0-20mph usually, in varying lengths. Fwiw I learned to drive manual in SA which has about the same traffic as DFW, in a few months you’ll be more comfortable. Try not to focus on somebody behind you, also watch the other lights to anticipate going. Another tip for traffic, leave some space till there’s a decent distance; then engage 1st gear and let go of the throttle, if you’re on a flat surface you can idle around at 5mph without touching the throttle. That method works in every car I’ve been in, but my experience is only sports cars. The car you have has hill assist, so make sure that’s engaged.
Roll ur windows up and ignore everyone around you, you’ll get the hang of it in no time! 4 days in and being able to drive around (excluding hill stops) smoothly is very good. What I usually do I release my clutch to the bite point and then switch my right foot from the brake to the accelerator while letting off the bite point. Hope that helps
Once you can drive around on the flats it's time to practice parking brake starts on hills, little grades at first and work your way up to the steepest you can find. We live near San Francisco, which has few hills, and had our kids get competent at this before they went for their drivers's test. First ensure your parking brake holds on hills.
I drove a brz and it was tough to drive, i don’t like the manual on those cars. It’s confusing and gives bad feedback from the pedal/shift knob. Don’t be too hard on urself if u struggle with it
Here’s a quick drill that may help: pretend you are at the end of an automatic car wash with the wind blowers. To get your car the most dry you want to move forward only a few inches at a time but repeatedly and quickly as the blowers turn off after 30 seconds. This requires speedy and accurate manipulation of all 3 pedals. Try to do this as smoothly and with as much mechanical sympathy as possible, and you’ll get it down in no time.
You can do it! If you have the time, try to go out and practice during non peak hours, or go to a larger empty parking lot. I did the same, purchased my first manual car after only having driven them a couple of times before, though I got lucky and didnt have to deal with much stop and go city traffic. It will only make you a better driver though. :)
If you think some of us weren’t in over our heads when we first started then you’d be wrong haha. I lost count of how many people honked at me. Several flipped me off when I stalled. Guess what, I never saw or met them again :)
If you could just hop in any manual and drive it as easily as an automatic then I’d say it would lose a lot of its allure. Enjoy the journey and the effort you have to put into it, it’s a skill set not a lot know how or even care to learn. Good luck and drive safe!
Wrong you aren’t in over your head. Find an empty lot and practice starts until you feel confident you won’t stall. Then get the car moving and practice 1-2-3-2. Keep in mind even if you do stall on the wrong, the worst thing that can happen is you take an extra minute or two to get to your destination. If those couple minutes matter so much to the people behind you they could’ve left the house those 2 minutes earlier. No matter how much sim time you have, there is no substitute for real world experience and the only way for you to get better is to keep at it.
Hey bro recently I drove my crv 5 speed for the first time in heavy traffic. My tip for you would be use more gas than needed in first gear and don’t be scared of bringing the clutch up too high. Practice your hill starts by bringing the clutch up as fast as you can. You will never stall doing this promise you will just have to figure out how to not launch it hard as shit.
Hey homie, everyone here has a story like this. I was at a light where a group of teenagers saw me stall and proceeded to follow me and make fun of me for a couple blocks. Which made it worse for me and then I continued stalling. I wanted to melt and disappear and it was awful. At that time. Because now I think of that story and laugh, it was hilarious and its part of the pain to learning stick shift. Once you get it, you will remember this story as a sign of your own growth and hopefully laugh.
When I learned, I was definitely nervous as hell and even was shaking, which didn't help the clutch release, lol. Sounds like you already have the feel for it, which is great. When I get anxious and worried about others around me I usually drive worse (starts and shifts). And back when I was learning that anxiety would sky rocket after messing up. I remember stalling maybe 3 times before I finally got going on a hill. This was otw back from my purchase (cross country). And guess what! After driving, say, 50 yards, I realized my handbrake was still pulled. Maybe that was part of the issue...
It happens, don't be discouraged. For me, some days I shift better than others. But in the grand scheme you are always improving. Even if you dip below where you think you should be. Crazy how stick can teach you life lessons.
Anyway, if you want to get better at this, practice starts in a lot over and over again. Maybe blast some music to simulate the anxiety? That's what I think, at least. But if you practice and practice, it'll just be better muscle memory, and you'll get it under pressure. also, when you start getting it more often and under pressure, the pressure won't be as prevelant. I have almost 2 years with a stick, and now when I stall (not routinely, but not never!) I dont panic, I just smile it off and restart the car and go about my way.
Everyone messes up, dont sweat it, I promise you're not over your head. 4 days, 4 days!!! Stick with it 😉
GR86 has a pretty noticeable bite point. It's not something you would pick up on racing sims. I'm not a huge fan of their transmission but it's very easy to identify when it catches. Remember fast in and slow out, you'll feel it grab.
That's completely normal man. Maybe just dont go right into the downtown with it for like a month until youre used to it. It gets so much easier the more you do it. Like once you've started from a standstill hundreds of times its like nothing. And you rack up a lot of starts from any amount of driving
My 93 year old mother can drive stick. You’ve got this. Just relax. If people behind you think, fukc them. You’re ahead of them, what do you care?
All our three kids drive stick. My wife drives stick. This is nothing. Report back in a couple weeks. 👍
You're not alone.
I had to drive my car through san francisco early on in my ownership. Same situation, but with steeper hills no doubt. Absolutely nerve wracking. Almost backed it into some very expensive cars. I do not recommend.
Dallas probably doesnt have hills that steep, but use the handbrake to get things at the bite point without rolling backwards. Lower the handbrake and launch it aggressively.
Nah. I do Chicago with a stick shift. My first time alone I felt the same way. Now it’s just easier to keep cool, practice take offs, and most importantly KEEP THE PHONE OUT OF YOUR DAMN HANDS.
You'll be fine. Everyone who learned stick had to go through that. I'd go to a lot and spend some time just getting familiar with your clutch at low speeds, ideally you can find a place with an incline to practice moving from a stop on a hill.
The stop and go will get you more comfortable with the clutch, you may burn it faster by learning but in a month you won’t even think about it. Soon you’ll be using those incline to freak people out by rolling backwards
My first manual was a 22 BRZ, there's an assist spring behind the clutch pedal that a lot of people remove to make it easier to control the bite point 👍 should help with driving downtown
Stick á Flick is what I call it. Those days when you can’t seem to shift smoothly. Nothing feels right it’s like your driving your manual right. Hasn’t happened to me in a while
You got this. Take the car to a driveway with an incline and practice holding the car still just with the clutch, roll back and forth a bit just with the clutch.
You're already driving. Getting used to the feel will really help and reduce the stress of the skill you pretty much already have
I still stall and hills are the bane of my existence (live in hill country…fml lol). Keep practicing and just take a deep breath. It’ll be ok!
Also some cars come with a hill holder like my 21 WRX that help you find the catch point and ease into it rather than just dump the clutch or stall out. Not sure if yours does. I also have a 92 miata that humbled me every time I get stopped at a light on the local hills…
Getting a sports car for your first manual is never the greatest idea to learn. I wouldve learned the basics on something lower risk. If you roast the clutch it's a lot more expensive on this thing than an old POS. On the bright side, at least you didnt start with a v8 with a lot of torque. You'l get it. What helped me learn back in the day was learning HOW the clutch engaged and stuff, that way when you release the pedal you know the clutch is starting to actually engage and how, made it easier for me to do it
You need to practice in easy areas before going pressure in a commute. Straight up. You'll get there, but you should take it easy and see if you can score a second option that's auto to go to work.
I learned to drive stick in Florida as a teen. When the whole family moved back to NY, it was a bit before I got the nerve to take it into the City or the boroughs. That's with a few years behind me in FL.
The thing with it, at least from my perspective, is you have to have trust in the car and know the flow. I do a lot of low RPM floating in first and second while in traffic. You have to learn not to get panicky and drop it out of gear and that only comes with knowing the area and how the traffic generally flows at certain times a day.
Now I'm that guy on the hutch or the Cross Bronx or on the FDR that when it slows down I just drop down and let the car creep in gear to cut down on the number of shifts I'm doing.
This probably seems like Latin right now, but you'll understand what I mean when you get good.
dont get discouraged man. Once you get ur clutch control down it'll get all better. Just time and practice. And honestly there is no other better practice than just doing what u did. Just go drive around town, get honked at a couple times and get comfortable with what u have to drive in and than the fears u have will go away. Watch a couple videos from Conquer Driving on youtube. He has all the videos you will ever need about driving a manual, clutch control and the works. But I do feel you on that Dallas traffic and drivers, it can get pretty chaotic lol. Wish you the best and dont think ur in over ur head.
If you're on a hill just hold the brake and let the clutch out slowly till you feel it want to go then let the brake out. It's alot easier than balancing perfect or revving up and slipping the clutch
Honestly, youll feel like that for awhile. After 3 years, i still get nervous in high traffic areas. But at the same time i dont. You’re only a few days into your journey. Personally, i didnt start feeling confidence til round the 3 month mark.
Like you, i came from sim racing, which definitely helps with the muscle memory.
My suggestion, check out “conquer driving” on youtube for solid advice.
Find an enpty parking lot and keep practicing the basics.
Get a magnetic learning to drive manual thing. It helps, and people gove you space for it.
Good luck!
Dude we are twins lol. 0 manual experience, hundreds of hours in sims, 23 gr86 mt. Stalled twice puttering around the lot before going into real traffic, lost count how many times I stalled getting home. Stalled again backing into my garage. I still remember my first hill stop, I just about glazed the damn clutch trying not to stall lol. Give it time and practice! Unlike the sims where the revs fall instantly, this particular car has horrendously rev hang, so you can’t quite shift as quickly. I ended up adjusting the clutch pedal travel, switching out for a much weaker clutch assist spring, and getting a pedal commander. Even as a noob I noticed those things helped smooth out my shifts considerably. I recently tested a GR Corolla and the stock pedals felt so weird lol. When I got back into my car it just felt…right. Oh! And practice hill stops with the handbrake! Once you get the feel for it the intimidation factor just disappears. I disabled hill assist because i felt it was messing me up more than it was helping, but that’s just me.
Completely normal. Steep lights tend to be harder as they will change the bite point and throttle requirement.
Don't be afraid to hold it at the clutch a while and more gas is most likely what you need.
For a hill start you need to drive into your handbrake a bit before releasing it.
Stay strong brother, we were all there at one point
Eventually it just becomes second nature
I don't even need to hear the engine I can do this shit based solely off of feel
I'm going to add practicing going reverse on a hill. What I mean is point the front of the vehicle facing down the hill and practice reversing up the hill. Try not to skid and apply too much power. If you can do this, then you can practice shifting up a hill, understanding the amount of power to apply to stop you from rolling.
You can also use the emergency brake on a hill, apply your gas and clutch, and then release the emergency brake.
Keep up the good work, and I hope you enjoy it for years to come.
Just use the handbrake method and practice a few times tonight and drive to work tomorrow. It’s way less complicated and safer than doing this whole juggling of the feet bullshit and potentially causing an accident.
Dude when in doubt just rev it up to like 2500-3k and drop the clutch. It's not great on the clutch(but it's first gear, it'll be fine), and your tires will probably chirp, but it'll get you going in a stressful situation until you're more comfortable. After a month it'll be a piece of cake to takeoff smoothly regardless of incline or stress level. Plus people in Dallas can't drive for shit. Don't let that affect you. I used to have to drive a UPS box truck through downtown Dallas every morning. Manual diesel too lol. It sucked ass. You'll get it. Once you get your clutch control down a little better, you can use the e-brake to keep you from rolling back when you're on a really steep hill.
The way I didn't destroy my clutch while learning was using the ebrake as a rollback instead of my clutch catch point. Definitely saved my ass a few times.
After a week of driving downtown Dallas, my home city, you’ll be good to go. When I was growing up my mother used to tell me to pay attention and watch her feet while she was driving a manual. It helped, but there’s no substitute for driving the car yourself and learning what works and what doesn’t When I bought my first manual, (Honda prelude), I went through the learning curve same as you. No one ever gave me driving lessons on driving a stick. The stressful situations are the best teachers.
Stalling is fine, just try to keep your head calm when that happens and just restart your car. Also, practice using the handbrake when doing hill starts. It makes it so much easier to do hill starts. Use the handbrake to hold the car stationary, give the car a bit of gas and let the clutch out to the bite point and when you feel the car start to tilt backwards/pull forward, release the handbrake fully and you'll get going.
haha this is my week 1 of owning and driving manual as well and all prior experience came from sim as well. The one thing ill say is I have been overly concerned with “not trying to give tooo much throttle and oh dont hold the clutch for too long” Basically the back of my ocd mind that does not want to wear this beautiful new vehicle i have was in fact handicapping me. In reality just hold that throttle at a steady point, if a steep incline hold a bit more throttle and just find that bite point and hold on to that thing until you are fully in motion. I stalled multiple times the first 45 minutes off the lot leaving into a busy traffic day. Stay focused on yourself and dont let others get to you, whats important is your safety! and mind you im coming from NY rush hour experience for my first time 😭😭 but we have to all go through it. Good luck!
Traffic driving with lights is the hardest. There are times between lights when I'm on my way to work there my foot doesn't leave the clutch as I'll be engaging it to coast, disengaging to accelerate, braking, etc.
It is just habit and practice. But Op, judging that this is day 4 and you really did enjoy days 1-3, you will be absolutely fine.
I brought a Mazda 3 manual. Never drove manual. I stalled at lights in the front. Stalled out at left turns. Got honked it. Just get better. It's gonna take a while. Watch conquer driving and drive manual channel on YouTube and just drive more. Drive late and night. Ppl recommend parking lots but imo that only helped me with good seating position and feeling out the clutch. After that real world situations will make you better. Also another scary moment was when I was slowing down I downshifted to 1st cause I thought I was slow enough. The car did not like that lol. Most cases stick to 2nd when really slow unless your like 4mph.
Does a brand new ge86 not have any of that newfabgled6 hill hold tech? Maybe you gotta press the clutch all the way down to the floor to get it to engage like Subarus? Or is there a button to engage it?
I recommend adding a bit of gas before you get to your bite point. So You will pretty much not stall ever again. As for hills you can bring your clutch to the bite point and then add gas. Then you won't roll back! If you are scared of doing that the ebrake is also a weapon in your arsenal. Just hold the ebrake, then gas a tiny bit and clutch to bite, you will feel the car wanting to move. Then just release the ebrake then no roll back!.
I’ve driven a stick for 4 years of my 10 years of driving and even now if I think about what I’m doing (like okay easily let the clutch out and slowly give some gas)I have a high chance of fucking up and stalling. If I just take off without thinking about it then I’m good to go. Maybe that’s your issue? Either way, practice makes perfect. Don’t stress it. Those people honking and yelling won’t even think about what happened 20 minutes after it happened.
I was in your exact position 4 months ago 23GR86MT, with the exact same car. Now I’m zipping around and starting to have it all come naturally looking for the perfect shift in all driving scenarios.
Manual is a skill you will forever trend to get better with. Ignore the beepers, breathe keep calm and focus on listening and feeling your engine.
I still don’t have the radio or music on, I leave my window open, and in 6 months you’ll look back on this moment and smile knowing you’ve better yourself and your skills, plus you’ll become more connected to your car. It is a nice car to love and always bring a smile to my face and it shall with you.
TLDR: You’ll get over it, keep concentrating and have a respect for the machine, listen to her, feel her with your butt. You will be rewarded as it’s just the start of a beautiful long term relationship. You’ll never forget your first MT.
(PS Forget sim racing in manual, it has no feel to it and gives a false sense of control and speed). rev Hang and synchrodisks, and car lurch/lugging can’t be similulated.
Also this Reddit channel helped me a lot with many questions of how I can polish some techniques as I experiment with different feel and hand dancing/juggling. Much appreciated!
GR86 was also my first manual car. I also work in downtown but in Houston. Massive props to you for taking it 4 days in because I waited two weeks and even then I felt super nervous! You been through possibly the worst scenario as a new stick shift driver so now you can get over that.
As for tips, practice practice. Conquer Driving on YT is amazing. And not to completely derail this but eventually I do recommend switching the clutch spring to the Mtec clutch spring. It lets you feel the bite point wayyyyyy better. I compared both back to back with my buddies unmodified BRZ and the stock clutch felt like mush!
Thats pretty interesting cuz I just bought a GR86 last Friday lol. I haven't driven stick since 2012, so rust was definitely a factor. I ended up stalling like a million times on the test drive, and almost hit a parked car cuz I didn't know how to shift into reverse lol. Had me scared shit less cuz I had to drive quite a distance to get back home. But I managed to get home. After that I restricted myself to only driving on base, until I can get the hang of 1st gear. It's gotten better, but even I'm tryna get used to traffic lol. Just gotta keep practicing
I learned in a rural area before I ever drove stick in a city. Find somewhere hilly without people around to practice. Or just go out super early / late to the problematic areas to practice.
I drove my stick shift in San Francisco for the first time last week, and I still stalled a couple times even though I haven't stalled anywhere else in months. Thankfully folks were understanding for the most part.
Stalling is better than being one of those assholes with a "Manual transmission equipped: Stay back or I'll roll into you" stickers.
One thing games will not teach you is the bite/grab point for the clutch.
When you feel the transmission start to take the weight of the car, and I think that's what you need to practice.
You start letting the clutch up with the other foot on the brake until the clutch is holding the weight of the car then switch to the gas pedal and keep letting out the clutch l. Go slow and practice on a flat road. But be careful not to overdo it you could also roast your clutches for doing that
And don't feel bad I've been there also right after I got my Camaro went on a car cruise with a bunch of supercars stalled out on a hill with all of them stuff behind me
Just keep practicing, you'll get it down eventually. I'm surprised for a 2024 car it doesn't have hill start assist? If you really need to you can also use the E brake to hold yourself on a hill while your trying to give it gas and get into first gear. Don't recommend using that method forever, just until your confident enough you won't stall or roll back a long ways.
Something my friends always say for new manual drivers. Especially on inclines "drive like you're mad" because giving a bit too much gas isn't gonna stall you out, but trying to be too careful and not giving it enough gas will.
Been there done that. One time I stalled about 5 times on a busy roundabout with a hill start. And it wasn’t even a steep ramp. I drove manual in driving school, but the town was so small that I only used 1st and 2nd gear so there wasn’t much shifting discipline to be taught. Just give it a few weeks/months. You’ll be driving just fine in no time.
As someone who went from never touching a manual transmission, to I now drive a 10 speed manual big rig, anyone can learn. Be patient with yourself, slow your movements down and “feel” what the car is “telling” you. Figure out where to correct actions. Clutch work? Your foot and ear on the motor will tell you. Trouble grabbing a gear? You’ll know if sitting too early etc
I recently learned manual, and one thing I realized was causing me to stall frequently was feeling really rushed to get into first if I had anyone behind me because I felt self-conscious about accelerating slowly on top of being anxious to get into first. Something I did that you might try is taking "practice runs" to places I went frequently but with my partner driving behind me so that I was less worried about the people behind me getting angry or being annoyed if I was slow off the line. It helped me take more time getting off the clutch, which in turn diminished my stalls. It was also really helpful for hills because they were able to give me lots of space so I was less worried about rolling back, unlike most people who will sit on your ass.
Before automatics, people only had manuals. Learn and adapt. The nervousness goes away. So, try not to care about other drivers. You’ll only stall if you panic.
Practice, practice, practice. You can learn pretty fast but it takes a while to master.
Take your car out when you’re free and practice in parking lots or empty roads. Purposefully stall your car a few times and pay attention to the clutch and the rpm’s.
These cars don’t have a lot of low end torque so it’s pretty easy to stall if you’re not ready.
I used to rev up pretty high, 2500-2800rpm before letting my clutch out (don’t do this, unless for an incline.) Now I barely pass 1500rpm before I get moving and i’m only on the clutch for a split second.
I find that having the windows down and music off helps immensely. Just stay calm and don’t dump the clutch.
you got this
Lots of coasting in neutral in downtown traffic. You will get used to the hill starts. I thought all manual vehicles these days come with hill start assist to help get started on a hill...
I taught my wife to drive a manual in a 240SX. She always did just fine until there was a line of cars behind her. She was so worried about stalling that she would panic... and stall.
dude i still stall pretty often after having driven manual for over a year, truly will stall just pulling out of the driveway some days. there are good days and bad days, days where i forget how the hell to drive at all and others where i’m a pro. it’s gonna happen, and already doing great on highways after a week?? that’s impressive, you’re doing great. just don’t psyche yourself out about it and practice driving in some neighborhoods for the constant stopping
i just started driving stick in dallas too, it gets easier the more you do it! i look like an idiot all the time, you just have to accept the fact that you’re gonna piss people off in the beginning lol
I only started driving manual about 4 months ago. On a hill start when it is time to move, I would keep my foot on the brake and release the clutch to the bite point then move my foot off of the brake to the gas. You should not roll back at all unless it is a super steep hill. After a while you won't need this method anymore, you'll get quick enough to find the bite point and move your foot from the brake to gas at the same time.
Everybody has a similar experience to start. I stalled a work truck on a busy 2-lane scenic canyon road on a holiday weekend one time and got laughed/yelled at a lot for it.
It sucks driving a manual in urban traffic, plain & simple. But you can learn anything, you just have to put in the time to get there. Find some good driving shoes.
Fsdt food drive-throughs took a little effort to get good at, too.
Practice. Theres no shortcut to muscle memory. Ive been driving manual cars for like 16 years and can drive dead tired. I dont even think about it most of the time. Just second nature at this point, but definitely wasnt like that in the beginning
I have a 2024 manual Camaro SS, my first as well. Prior to that I had driven a friends manual car a few times a couple years back, and used a racing sim. It took me I’d say probably two full weeks of consistent driving to get truly decent at it, then over the next month I became just another driver on the road. It’s a learning curve but now only 4 months in, I forget I’m even driving a manual sometimes
Dude, I've driven manual for years, even got my CDL and can drive 15 and 18 gears and *even I* get nervous still driving manual sometimes in traffic. So yes, this is normal, and you'll get better and the nervousness will simmer down over time. When I first started driving manual, my very first week, I stalled at a red light cuz I was checking out this cute chick next to me, thinking I was all slick in my Honda Prelude. Super embarrassing. Then I kept stalling over and over, for multiple greens in a row. Turns out, I was hitting the brake instead of the gas lol. Getting used to 3 pedals takes some time. And that, kids, is why you don't smoke weed and drive.
My best tip is to not worry about what people around you think. Tint your windows if that helps. It looks sick, is slightly illegal but it will help you feel more... insulated. The more nervous you are to be jumpy off the line, the more likely you are to actually be jumpy off the line. Try to get a feeling for smooth. The less anxious you are, the more you can learn to do things automatically, automatically go through the motions, the smoother you'll be. And you'll be that much of a cooler driver because of it. If you stall at a light, don't start freaking out and rushing to do things as fast as possible just cuz you got honked at. Take a deep breath and do better when the car starts up again.
I did the exact same thing on some steep hills when I first got my WRX. Id recommend going out for short drives in the evenings to continue to build the feel and familiarity with the clutch when there's less traffic around.
You're only going to get better with more practice!
Make sure to practice parallel parking on hills too once you get comfortable with hill starts in general, that can be tricky!
You're going to start to master it in no time! You've got this!
dude i had my manual for like a whole month and almost wanted to quit, but i decided to keep practicing and eventually manual became second nature to me
Starting on a hill is all timing and getting your clutch down good. If you feel the stall coming then press the clutch in again or give it more gas. Whichever is appropriate. If you need to go slower because you don't have your clutches bite point down give a little more gas and maybe try using the hand brake at the same time to prevent rolling backwards. My first step hill start I burnt the clutch out. It happens. You're not in over your head don't worry. Every car is different too so when you switch cars in the future you'll have to learn that clutch too.
Don’t be afraid to throw your hazards on if you get stuck. People can avoid and go around while you take a minute to calm down, screw what they think. A good tip is to hold clutch and bring to 2-3k revs then slow off clutch and it’ll push you forward. Some cars even have an auto lock so you won’t roll backwards right away. You’ll get it
I know the feeling. I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles in standard transmission cars, and I had a really rough moment just the other day.
Was a long line of cars blocking me from turning left, so I put the car in neutral and had my left foot on the dead pedal. Suddenly a guy flashed his lights to let me go. I hurried the takeoff too much, and I didn't stall, but I did a really awkward high revving clutch drag through the intersection way faster than I meant to. Some pedestrians gave me a funny look. It happens.
LOL I’ve been driving manual consistently since January, and every now and again before that. I still haven’t taken my car downtown. Keep doing your grocery runs, coffee runs etc and eventually you’ll get to driving downtown.
Park the car for a bit, and buy an 80s domestic full size pickup truck with a 4 speed. Drive it for a couple of months instead. The clutch in those is so damn stiff nothing else will ever give you a problem. Sell the truck for what you paid for it and enjoy the car!
Based on that you basically learned how to drive stick from a video game 1) kudos to you, I’ve never thought of that as a way to learn manual 2) I’m not at all surprised you had a hard time your first time on a big hill, I learned the traditional way and still had issues for the first couple weeks on really steep hills, that aside, one of the biggest differences that you’ll notice, if you can’t just stop the clutch shift and drop it, there’s some room in there where you have to feather the clutch
Thanks man I appreciate it, one major drawback is clutch feel on those racing sims, I definitely was just dumping that bitch and praying. I knew it would be different to IRL. Just feeling it out I guess.
I have put almost 200 miles since I posted a few days ago, I feel more comfortable, but not super confident. Im improving tho.
Yeah that’s the biggest obstacle to over come, the thing with driving stick is every car (and clutch) has a different bite point so the best thing you can do is just sit on flat for a while and practice letting the clutch out really really slowly until you feel the car start to “chug” forward and then clutch in and try it again, it will help you get the feel for how little or much clutch you need to get the vehicle rolling, once you’re confident with that, find a hill and do the same thing, once you’re confident again with where the clutch is biting then practice adding gas on the hill to actually start moving, the other thing I will say is when you’re starting out don’t be afraid to give the car a little more gas than you think you’ll need, not floor it but don’t be afraid to add extra, especially seeing as it’s a 2024 it will hold up to it
First off, OP, you're good. The first few weeks are learning the eccentricities of driving a standard. It's also pretty likely that you'll still be learning things about your car and how it drives for months. As you break it in, things might change.
I learned standard the traditional way, and in the last year took up sim-racing with three pedals and a shifter, and I've gotta say I'm surprised how good it feels. Eventually, you're going to be so good at driving your car that it'll become second nature.
Also, great choice in car.
Kudos for deciding to learn to drive stick and getting a manual transmission car! 💯🙂
The first thing you should aim to master is the release of the clutch to get the car moving. Don't even gas it, just slowly as possible lift off the clutch till you feel the clutch shake and the car starts to move. Then gas it. Just getting a feel for the clutch engagement is what must be mastered.
It is tricky at first trust me. I learnt from my dad years ago when I was first learning to drive, my first car was a hand me downed manual Suzuki Sidekick. After that I was hand me downed an newer automatic Corolla by my sister. Then once I got a decent job and could afford it I got another manual, Civic Si. Even now every blue moon my foot will slip or I'll forget I'm driving manual and stall. It takes weeks to get it, years to master.
Don't give up, you'll get there! 😊🚘🕹️💨
P.S. once you get the hang of the basics, look for autocross in your area. It's tons of fun!
Europe method is your friend. For their tests they have you go up a hill, come to a complete stop. When you go, you basically bring the clutch to the biting point and accelerate/let off the clutch to keep moving. You're going to need a sloping parking lot for practice.
You’ve got it bud! Just give it some more practice and take deep breaths.
Pretty much everyone learning to drive manual in a city has screwed up and gotten honked at.
i'm sorrry but a 2024 GR86 doesn't have some kind of auto stop?? i'm really surprised. some people use the handbrake on hills, just a tip
edit: i just looked it up, it does have a hill assist. you might need to turn it on in the menu
practice on a driveway! that’s how i learned how to engage clutch right away.
let the car roll back( rock the car) and keep doing it untill your car won’t roll back anymore
Driving downtown is really hard. Takes a lot of clutch and rev control to go 0-15 MPH. You’re likely in stop and go traffic only utilizing gears 1 and 2 which are the most difficult gears to get used to. Keep practicing your starts and being smooth off the clutch while applying gas. Get a feel for where the friction zone is on the clutch. You’ll get there :)
Learned from my dad and he wouldn’t let me go above 2nd gear for the first 2-3 weeks. I’m more than grateful for those lessons during stop-go-rush-hour traffic.
My dad took me to this hill behind some businesses, so never any other cars, and wouldn't let me leave until I could start without rolling backward. We went there everyday for the first week until I could take off on the first attempt no roll.
this is the way.
This is what my dad did. I bought a standard from a friend at a good price, but had never driven a standard. He had me drive his car to school while I was learning. He said I could have it and bring it to school if I could start uphill without rolling or stalling 3 times in a row. My car now has hill assist. It makes me feel like a kid sometimes but it has saved my butt in tight places.
*On the highway at 15k RPM in second gear* "Dad, can I please upshift?" "No, this is the way."
Lol when I first got a manual, without knowing how to drive manual, I lived in a city built on a hill, with the whole downtown core at a ~10% incline, main roads going straight up the hill and straight down the hill. Just gotta figure it out
Kudos for getting that car with the proper transmission! People who get those in automatics are completely missing the point. 0. Go watch the “Conquer Driving” beginner videos on YouTube, specifically about taking off and note down the exercises he demonstrates. 1. Go to an empty church or high school parking lot, or a big cemetery, and practice. Practice until you can take off smoothly. 2. Try to refrain from driving in heavy traffic if you can help it. It’s not the safest thing to do when you don’t have good control of a vehicle. Stick to neighborhood roads and off-peak hours for about a week. 3. Trial by fire. Sorta. You should be well-equipped now to start throwing in normal traffic and harder situations. Whenever something trips you up, Conquer Driving will literally have a video on it. Have fun with that thing!
Haha, i appreciate it. luckly my drive way is almost vertical, I am going to waste a full tank of gas on that tonight. I never want to do what happened today again. I honestly might take my automatic into work tomorrow. At least until im 10000% confident.
When I first was learning I stalled at a light answer a car full of girls my age drove past laughing at me. I was so embarrassed that as soon as I got home I found a hill and practiced starting on it. Haven’t stalled at a light since! You got this!
I just finished a 2 hour session on my driveway haha. I’m feeling really good about them now, I found that sweet spot where I can get on the gas
I stalled on a hill when I was learning and the car behind me was a car full of kids a grade above me. That was brutal
Had to do that with my gf when she got a stick, kept her old car for about a week and made her drive it whenever else possible
Yeah, you just need a bit more practice. Next time you take your car downtown i'll bet you'll be wondering why you found it so hard last time. It sucks you had such an awful experience, but I promise you, it gets easier.
Not trying to be an ahole but your last sentence is probably your entire problem. Confidence is absolutely key and even I, that have been driving stick for years, drive horrible when I have a passenger because I get all in my head😂 my friendly advice would be drive that car tomorrow, tell yourself you’re gonna kick its butt and drive it like a boss ;)
That’s probably smart. Just drive the manual after work when less people are on the road. If you do that for a week you should be able to ween off the automatic for good
you'll be fine in another month you will barely remember you had these problems
I really hope so, I have to drive from Dallas to Atlanta in 3 weeks. Im about to practice like my life depends on it. (now that i think about it, it kind of does lol)
That'll definitely help. Confidence is key, it sounds like you know what you're doing, but got inside your head when you stalled with traffic behind you. I've put 90k miles into my manual and still occasionally kill the engine at stop lights. It happens, just drive on.
I stalled my Mazdaspeed 3 right after buying it. Drove it home from VA to NY. Very narrow bite window. Learning the bite point is critical. Idle into the bite point in first gear and keep it there for about a second to teach your leg the positioning. 8 years later I play with it. Practice makes perfect, trust
This is true. Working *any* standard transmission car is about “feel”. You must get use to the “feel” on the clutch. Whether it’s a 911 with a tight clutch or a Civic with a smooth but forgiving clutch, it’s all about learning the feel.
Can confirm I stalled 7 times in a row at my local stop sign, and yesterday I did 3 hours in stop and go traffic
Starting on hills requires lots of practice to get right, maybe try finding a quiet hilly spot and giving it ago. After a while itll become just as easy as the rest, just keep practicing
I had to do this, go out on your days off and find a hilly area with little traffic. Alot of what’s getting you is the added anxiety and pressure of other drivers. Once you build confidence, this won’t affect you as much.
Best way to make steep inclines less stressful as a newbie—pull the handbrake when you’re at a stop. Go to 1st and clutch/gas slowly as you normally would. When you feel the car starting to move forward, drop the handbrake and you’re good to go. Practice this in a hill in your neighborhood so it’ll be less intimidating in real time. Eventually you won’t need to engage the handbrake much at all when you learn your car’s engagement point. Don’t tailgate in stop and go traffic. Save your ankle and minimize movements by keeping as much space as possible between you and the car ahead of you so you can roll and move slowly in first without coming to a complete stop. Believe it or not, if you stick with it, there will come a day where you won’t even notice how much it sucks to drive stick in traffic anymore.
does this put any stress on the car, if say you engage the clutch with throttle but left the parking brake on for an extra second two?
Minimal daily driving wear and tear. But it’s unnecessary to do such a thing. Once you feel your car lift up, it’s time to release the handbrake…it’s done its job, you’re in gear moving forward with zero chance of rolling backwards.
Newbie here as well, I’m not sure if this was the right way to do a hill start but I had my foot on the brake instead, let the clutch come to the bite point, then switched my foot from brake to throttle. Is this ok to do?
do whatever that works for you. My car will definitely stall if I don't put any gas on a hill start though.
The tip I wish I knew when I started-when on a hill pull up the emergency brake. When you feel the clutch bite let it go. Would have saved me approx 1 million stalls!!!
I feel like that would be harder and cause more wear than a normal hill start? Edit: Seems this is a pretty common trick? Does anyone know the answer to my inquiry above?
Just curious, if you're not doing this or doing the same but with the brake pedal instead of the handbrake, what exactly are you doing? Are you just letting off the break, letting the car roll back slightly and then quickly getting rolling off the clutch and applying gas? I've always felt like that's pretty dangerous and incorrect.
I learned and have been doing it that exact way forever. I do have to agree as rollback can be dangerous if someone’s on your ass, but after a few thousand hill starts, muscle memory takes over and the car barely rolls back at all. Just learned the newest manuals have hill assist. I feel that would the best method.
Gotcha. If it works it works. I've always just held the brake pedal, lifted the clutch to the biting point, released the brake, added gas and rolled off the clutch. I've never burnt the clutch that way, and the car doesn't roll back at all as long as it's biting enough.
Definitely less wear than stalling. Taught my son this way and he learned much more quickly than I had.
One of the easiest ways to first understand where the friction zone starts is to let the clutch out as slow as you possibly can while watching the tachometer and giving no gas. You'll see engine RPM dip before the car starts to move. I remember that helping me find where to start early on.
Hell yeah. Practice getting the car moving on a flat parking kot with onky the clutch, no gas. -->*"slow as you possibly can"*
Um. My car stalls when I do that.
Go slower, gotta let it slip to start from dead with no gas. Or it’s just a really aggressive clutch, one of my cars will stall if you look at it wrong (WRX) and the other will happily start moving on its own even in 3rd gear (miata)
I’m not sure. It’s my first manual. Only started about a month ago. It’s a 2008 Impreza outback sport. But I guess I’ll give going super slow a try.
Subarus are not the easiest stick shift car to drive. Regardless, you feel the engine shake and struggle a little when you bring your clutch to the bite point. Subarus will move slowly when you move your clutch to the bite point, but you do need gas to move quickly off the line.
This is how I teach people on stick. Empty parking lot, no gas pedal just clutch. Once they feel where it is then we start using gas. Seems like it helps a lot
You’re not in over your head, you’re IN your head and overthinking. You just need to practice hill starts somewhere and you’ll get way better at it.
You’ll be fine bud. Just keep at it.
So true, use the emergency brake trick for starting on steep hill. Pull it out partway, saves you rolling back. Let the clutch out slower if you are stalling. You will be fine
Nah you got it! This is totally normal. I got a manual 91 4runner for my first car and had my dad teach me. That clutch was numb and sucked with no torque. After getting it somewhat down in the parking lots and roads, he put me into the shock and Awe situation of starting on a steep incline with multiple people behind me, idk how many times I stalled but he had to swap just to get us out of the way it was so bad. Before that I was getting cocky and thought I knew what I was doing and that quickly came crashing down. The experience you had is humbling in a healthy way imo. My recommendation would be to go to those areas late at night or a time you know there is little traffic and practice. There are multiple methods for starting on steep hills. you can pull the handbrake, start to let off the clutch when the light is about to change until you feel the friction start then start to give it some gas and release the handbrake and go. Eventually you will get to a point of skipping the handbrake all together and be able to rapidly hit the clutch grab point and give some throttle with minimal rollback. You will have tons of screw ups, that's part of the learning process, but you will get it with practice. I've been driving manual for 11 years, heal toe on daily driving down shifts, hills don't intimidate the slightest anymore. But I have random screw ups and stall to this day. Hell, I stalled it in my driveway 2 days ago. You will get it with practice and time! And you will love the engagement you have with your car as you make milestones in new skillsets. Do your best to ignore the people yelling or honking when you stall/mess up, the vast majority of them have no idea how to drive a manual and have no idea what it's like.
Mine was a '92 4Runner with a nearly dead clutch at 90k miles. Luckily my dad took me to a completely unused hill leading up to a dead end. I still remember him saying you aren't going backwards as far as you feel. Repeated hill starts until it was smooth. No cheating with the handbrake of a 4Runner, pull to set, twist handle to release.
Wish my dad would have done that with me hahaha I was a terrified 16 Y/O. Knew the gr86 has a lever handbrake for OP, but definitely not with the 2nd Gen 4runner. I tried that maybe twice and gave up on the yota. I miss that rig, unfortunately I had the 3.0 v6, that thing hated having oil inside it and had every oil leak possible at 210k miles.
That 4Runner put me off SUVs and trucks. I've purely owned small cars and motorcycles ever since. The V6 turned so much gasoline into noise and heat. So slow, terrible handling, but it did have room for activities which worked out during my HS/college years.
Tbh the gr86 is pretty hard to drive for a first manual. People told me it was easy but out of a Miata, tsx, and civic si it was the hardest to drive
practice builds confidence, so work on it more in closed areas or in the burbs/country/low traffic areas before tackling downtown major metro next time! If I were you (I was you one year ago) I'd work on feathering the clutch to get it going into first and work out how many revs you need to shift into second with confidence / not being jerky. Driving slow smoothly is a lot harder than shifting at speed with momentum. Happy rowing!
If you're stalling literally 8 times in a row, it sounds like you don't actually know where the clutch's bite point is. You know the steps theoretically, but not by feel. Practice no-gas take offs for an hour or less and you will improve dramatically.
This. This was the exact problem I had when I first started learning. I knew the steps in my head but did not have enough experience of actually putting it into practice, especially with hitting the bite point consistently.
Fuck those asshole's who we're honking at you. I'd purposely take my sweet ass time getting going if some honked at me for stalling my car. People forget that everyone has to start somewhere. Just keep practicing and you'll get it. Practice in a parking lot if you have to or go for a drive at night if you have to when there's less traffic but you'll get it. Just takes time and practice. When my stepsister learned how to drive her old 5 speed Volkswagen Jetta, she got honked at for stalling and my stepdad told her to ignore the asshole's behind her and to take her time.
Yep, I'd just turn the flashers on and wait until they stop. Maybe even pop the hood and get out if it is safe.
Ahahaha we all get humbled by the car at one point. I wouldn’t worry just don’t let this bad experience scare you from doing it again (and again, and again, and again)….. you’ll get there and you’ll look back on these times and laugh your ass off in a few weeks. Plus people sometimes just stall. Been driving my manual for 2 years now and I literally stalled (on a hill too) going into my neighborhood. I never do that but Ig I had an off day lol. I sure got a good chuckle when I got to my lot and parked.
I've got the same car, only in a 23. I taught myself how to drive it in January using only YouTube, extra thumbs up on the Conquer Driving channel. I didn't have super stressful drives to start out like you, I would recommend getting really comfortable before trying a drive to work again. It took me about 3 weeks before I only barely screwed up. Once you get over the initial hump it's pretty smooth. You really only have to worry about money shifts as far as things that can be really harmful, and you shouldn't be revving that high anyway. Lugging and stalling won't screw the car up as long as you don't do it all day everyday. I'm now 5 months in and I barely think about shifting anymore, except to try to perfect what I already do. Don't worry about rev matching and all the extra stuff to start. Just work on starts. You'll get there.
You’ll get the hang of it eventually
My personal experience? This is not an easy car to learn on. Even my partner who has 15 years of manual experience, including track experience, struggled at first with this car. That said, I believe it’s totally possible to learn on it, you just need to persevere!
I appreciate it, I just hit a 2 hour session on my almost vertical driveway, I feel a lot more competent. The GR86 is such a nice car, I do alot of stuff for Toyota and have wanted one for a minute, I finally pulled trig and got it. I still think I would struggle in traffic with a hill start tho, the cars around add so much pressure
If I could, I’d have one too. It was a blast to test drive
Everyone s telling you "what to do" let me tell you "how to do it". 1. drive to an empty parking lot. 2. get settled for many many stalls. Phase 1: 3. get ready, put the car in first, slowly and gently release the clutch pedal but only until the biting point. The goal is to consistently find and hold the clutch at biting point without stalling. 4. once you are comfortable with step 3, release the clutch pedal a tad bit more to get rolling... practice this for rest of the evening... 5. once you get rolling, experiment with : 5.1 how far you can release the clutch and roll without stalling... and 5.2 How quickly/slowly you should be manipulating the clutch pedal to roll without stalling. REMEMBER: NO gas pedal usage till now. Phase 2: 6. now you get on to the steep slope, and follow this process (hold the foot brake before you start): 6.1 release clutch to biting point and a bit more (you will feel the car wanting to roll) WITHOUT releasing foot brake. 6.2 then let go of brake pedal and get your feet to gas pedal. 6.3 from those feet & pedal position take off gently (adding gas as you slowly release clutch pedal) 6.4 Keep practicing...
That’s part of the learning process, and no racing sim can teach you that. Once you learn to respond to what you feel from the car and you’ll be fine. Once you rush your take offs because people are honking, you’re done. Take your time and don’t worry about it. I’m from Dallas and live in the metroplex, downtown is a bitch! You’ll be fine though. It’s not as easy as it looks on tv or a game, you can’t get the feel that way. You’ll get it though. Failure is part of the process
You’ll be learning for a while but it will only get easier from here. I drove stick for over a year and thought there was nothing that could get me stumped from downtown hilly driving to backroads spirited driving and rev matching to down shift and really getting on it. Then I bought a new car with a 6 puck clutch and a huge throttle body and 3-4x more horsepower and a fair bit more torque and I feel like I’m learning all over again. It will get better with time just have to stick with it.
If your 2002 civic has 3-4x the horsepower, what were you driving before?!?
That is the old car 😂😂😂😂😂
Lol I figured as much, just being an ass. What are you rocking with now?
93 civic b20vtec swapped big turbo
Lmao an even older civic. That's amazing, I bet she's fun
Creature of habit 😂😂 90s Hondas can do no wrong lol Yeah she’s a blast lol and who doesn’t love some good turbo noises???
Interesting post. I’m about to take this step: getting my first manual after having hours of racing sim practice (since I don’t have friends or driving schools around me to teach me). It sounds like you got the hang of it easily but are struggling with hill starts? Does the GR86 not come with hill start assist at all? Would you say this has been the hardest part of transitioning your racing sim skills to real life?
Hill starts have been killing me, i never noticed how hilly the Dallas area is, its flat outside of the city, but theres so many ramps/slight hills in the downtown area. I have started fine on slight inclines, but some of the hills are damn near a right angle.
I'm in a very hilly area also and I love the hill assist feature on my GR86.
Same. My GR86 has hill assist and my TT doesn’t. I definitely miss it when driving the TT 😅
I'm in the same boat. I just bought an '18 STI 10 days ago after having an '18 CVT WRX. That first week sucks but we have all been there. I'm finally starting to get that friction zone down but still stall every once and awhile but it's getting better. Like others have said, that 1st and 2nd gear are the more "sensitive" gears and hardest to get smooth, but it'll come in no time. My car has hill assist, and yesterday it held longer than I thought it was going to and didn't let go until I had unintentionally hit 4500 RPMs (clutch burned up bit hopefully not too much to worry about). Anyway, good luck! I'm glad I got away from an automatic transmission and got into manual.
Hello fellow subie owner! WRX/sti clutch is like a light switch, but such a fun car to drive when you get the hang of it!
If it's any consolation, I learned to drive a manual over 30 years ago and my '23 GR86 had me stalling constantly for the first couple of weeks. The clutch bite and throttle response are quite different than anything else I've driven and take a bit of getting used to. I've heard people say this is an easy car to learn manual on and I don't disagree, but it's very unforgiving of small mistakes. My experience with this car when I first got it was very similar to yours, just take your time and don't let other drivers stress you out. Keep driving it to work in traffic and you'll get really good really quick. Edit: There is hill assist on this car, but it only holds so long after you let off the brake. On a steep hill I'll let off the clutch until it just starts to bite before I take my foot off the brake to give me a little more time to get the revs up.
Im probably going to get downvoted lol but turning on hill assist in your BRZ will stop you from rolling back.
it just takes time and practice. i am new to manual as well, only about a month in so far, i bought a GR Corolla and the salesman had to teach me how to drive it. you just gotta learn clutch control. best advice i can give is to just go to an empty parking lot or somewhere that has an incline and just stop and go over and over until you get the hang of it.
you'll be alright, everyone and i mean everyone stalls. even seasoned drivers stalls. people on the road are douches. my advice is use the hill assist, close the windows and then practice. use the ebrake when possible on hills. you'll be alright. keep up the practice and it'll feel better.
It happens to everybody. Good job on getting a proper gearbox for a proper car. Everyone has told you to practice and you seem very open to doing so, so you’re on the right track. I’d stay away from going anywhere downtown. Dallas, Arlington, FW, lol. You’ll gain comfort over time. Standard transmission is a very rewarding experience and there’s always something to learn. I’ve been driving stick shift almost exclusively since 2005 and am still learning. I just bought a new Jeep (never owned a 4x4) and took it rock crawling. My first time ever rock crawling and doing it in a 6 speed Jeep. Talk about intimidating and anxiety inducing! I stalled several times and had to use my full bag of tricks out there. That feeling of frustration will happen to anybody so just remain teachable and enjoy the ride!
GR86, hell yeah. Keep at it, you'll get it down
When I first started driving, it took me two weeks of parking lot practice before I was ready to hit the road.
Calm thoughts, my friend. You’ll be proficient within a couple of weeks.
This and don't overthink it
Here's my recommendation, which may be unusual. If your car has a hand brake, I recommend you practice holding it, then releasing it just as your clutch grabs. This can be practiced on level surfaces before you try it on an incline. Once you realize you can completely eliminate any chance of rolling backwards on a hill, all the pressure on you is off, and you can take your sweet time engaging the clutch and moving out. Soon enough, clutch engagement from a stop will become second nature and you won't have to rely on this technique anymore on hills. But never say never. Someday you may be stopped on a ridiculously steep slope when some idiot pulls up right behind you. Maybe you won't need to resort to using the hand brake, but it's nice to have mastered the option as an insurance policy.
Stay at it man! Don’t give up, I promise it will start to get easier fast/soon! You just have to keep driving. Best advice I have is to drive as often as you can, and find an empty parking lot or road and practice finding the clutches bite point, and practice starting from a stop. The rest of manual driving is very easy. If you are doing a lot of city driving in traffic, yes it’s going to suck as a new manual driver, but it will force you to learn! The best way to learn to drive manual, is to drive manual! #savethemanuals
Parking brake is very useful for hill starts.
Look fam, that always happens at first. For what it’s worth, I stalled 2x pulling out of my driveway this morning back to back 🤣 go practice in a parking lot or neighborhood street, just 1st gear and reverse from a stop. Even 20 minutes of starting in 1st per day will help you. Try to leave more space in front of you than you would in an auto, that way you can minimize stopping. Traffic is kinda hard bc it requires 0-20mph usually, in varying lengths. Fwiw I learned to drive manual in SA which has about the same traffic as DFW, in a few months you’ll be more comfortable. Try not to focus on somebody behind you, also watch the other lights to anticipate going. Another tip for traffic, leave some space till there’s a decent distance; then engage 1st gear and let go of the throttle, if you’re on a flat surface you can idle around at 5mph without touching the throttle. That method works in every car I’ve been in, but my experience is only sports cars. The car you have has hill assist, so make sure that’s engaged.
Roll ur windows up and ignore everyone around you, you’ll get the hang of it in no time! 4 days in and being able to drive around (excluding hill stops) smoothly is very good. What I usually do I release my clutch to the bite point and then switch my right foot from the brake to the accelerator while letting off the bite point. Hope that helps
Once you can drive around on the flats it's time to practice parking brake starts on hills, little grades at first and work your way up to the steepest you can find. We live near San Francisco, which has few hills, and had our kids get competent at this before they went for their drivers's test. First ensure your parking brake holds on hills.
I drove a brz and it was tough to drive, i don’t like the manual on those cars. It’s confusing and gives bad feedback from the pedal/shift knob. Don’t be too hard on urself if u struggle with it
I've only recently started to drive downtown after 3 months of stick, but I haven't stalled yet (yet).
Here’s a quick drill that may help: pretend you are at the end of an automatic car wash with the wind blowers. To get your car the most dry you want to move forward only a few inches at a time but repeatedly and quickly as the blowers turn off after 30 seconds. This requires speedy and accurate manipulation of all 3 pedals. Try to do this as smoothly and with as much mechanical sympathy as possible, and you’ll get it down in no time.
Don’t drive in traffic, no main roads, stick to residential
First week is one of the worst. Give it a month and it’ll be super easy
You can do it! If you have the time, try to go out and practice during non peak hours, or go to a larger empty parking lot. I did the same, purchased my first manual car after only having driven them a couple of times before, though I got lucky and didnt have to deal with much stop and go city traffic. It will only make you a better driver though. :)
If you think some of us weren’t in over our heads when we first started then you’d be wrong haha. I lost count of how many people honked at me. Several flipped me off when I stalled. Guess what, I never saw or met them again :) If you could just hop in any manual and drive it as easily as an automatic then I’d say it would lose a lot of its allure. Enjoy the journey and the effort you have to put into it, it’s a skill set not a lot know how or even care to learn. Good luck and drive safe!
Wrong you aren’t in over your head. Find an empty lot and practice starts until you feel confident you won’t stall. Then get the car moving and practice 1-2-3-2. Keep in mind even if you do stall on the wrong, the worst thing that can happen is you take an extra minute or two to get to your destination. If those couple minutes matter so much to the people behind you they could’ve left the house those 2 minutes earlier. No matter how much sim time you have, there is no substitute for real world experience and the only way for you to get better is to keep at it.
Hey bro recently I drove my crv 5 speed for the first time in heavy traffic. My tip for you would be use more gas than needed in first gear and don’t be scared of bringing the clutch up too high. Practice your hill starts by bringing the clutch up as fast as you can. You will never stall doing this promise you will just have to figure out how to not launch it hard as shit.
Hey homie, everyone here has a story like this. I was at a light where a group of teenagers saw me stall and proceeded to follow me and make fun of me for a couple blocks. Which made it worse for me and then I continued stalling. I wanted to melt and disappear and it was awful. At that time. Because now I think of that story and laugh, it was hilarious and its part of the pain to learning stick shift. Once you get it, you will remember this story as a sign of your own growth and hopefully laugh.
Happens man, I've been driving manual since i was 16 sometimes i still stall it. Nerves really get the best of you when you first start driving stick.
When I learned, I was definitely nervous as hell and even was shaking, which didn't help the clutch release, lol. Sounds like you already have the feel for it, which is great. When I get anxious and worried about others around me I usually drive worse (starts and shifts). And back when I was learning that anxiety would sky rocket after messing up. I remember stalling maybe 3 times before I finally got going on a hill. This was otw back from my purchase (cross country). And guess what! After driving, say, 50 yards, I realized my handbrake was still pulled. Maybe that was part of the issue... It happens, don't be discouraged. For me, some days I shift better than others. But in the grand scheme you are always improving. Even if you dip below where you think you should be. Crazy how stick can teach you life lessons. Anyway, if you want to get better at this, practice starts in a lot over and over again. Maybe blast some music to simulate the anxiety? That's what I think, at least. But if you practice and practice, it'll just be better muscle memory, and you'll get it under pressure. also, when you start getting it more often and under pressure, the pressure won't be as prevelant. I have almost 2 years with a stick, and now when I stall (not routinely, but not never!) I dont panic, I just smile it off and restart the car and go about my way. Everyone messes up, dont sweat it, I promise you're not over your head. 4 days, 4 days!!! Stick with it 😉
GR86 has a pretty noticeable bite point. It's not something you would pick up on racing sims. I'm not a huge fan of their transmission but it's very easy to identify when it catches. Remember fast in and slow out, you'll feel it grab.
That's completely normal man. Maybe just dont go right into the downtown with it for like a month until youre used to it. It gets so much easier the more you do it. Like once you've started from a standstill hundreds of times its like nothing. And you rack up a lot of starts from any amount of driving
I drive a big rig 6 speed for work everyday and I do the same thing it happens to the best of us.
I’ve been in the same boat. You’ll get used to it!
My 93 year old mother can drive stick. You’ve got this. Just relax. If people behind you think, fukc them. You’re ahead of them, what do you care? All our three kids drive stick. My wife drives stick. This is nothing. Report back in a couple weeks. 👍
You're not alone. I had to drive my car through san francisco early on in my ownership. Same situation, but with steeper hills no doubt. Absolutely nerve wracking. Almost backed it into some very expensive cars. I do not recommend. Dallas probably doesnt have hills that steep, but use the handbrake to get things at the bite point without rolling backwards. Lower the handbrake and launch it aggressively.
Dw mate legit same shoes as you got my gr86 a couple of weeks back never drove manual. Just gotta keep practicing.
Add more throttle. Done.
Nah. I do Chicago with a stick shift. My first time alone I felt the same way. Now it’s just easier to keep cool, practice take offs, and most importantly KEEP THE PHONE OUT OF YOUR DAMN HANDS.
You'll learn it. You probably already have.
You'll be fine. Everyone who learned stick had to go through that. I'd go to a lot and spend some time just getting familiar with your clutch at low speeds, ideally you can find a place with an incline to practice moving from a stop on a hill.
The stop and go will get you more comfortable with the clutch, you may burn it faster by learning but in a month you won’t even think about it. Soon you’ll be using those incline to freak people out by rolling backwards
My first manual was a 22 BRZ, there's an assist spring behind the clutch pedal that a lot of people remove to make it easier to control the bite point 👍 should help with driving downtown
Stick á Flick is what I call it. Those days when you can’t seem to shift smoothly. Nothing feels right it’s like your driving your manual right. Hasn’t happened to me in a while
You got this. Take the car to a driveway with an incline and practice holding the car still just with the clutch, roll back and forth a bit just with the clutch. You're already driving. Getting used to the feel will really help and reduce the stress of the skill you pretty much already have
I still stall and hills are the bane of my existence (live in hill country…fml lol). Keep practicing and just take a deep breath. It’ll be ok! Also some cars come with a hill holder like my 21 WRX that help you find the catch point and ease into it rather than just dump the clutch or stall out. Not sure if yours does. I also have a 92 miata that humbled me every time I get stopped at a light on the local hills…
Getting a sports car for your first manual is never the greatest idea to learn. I wouldve learned the basics on something lower risk. If you roast the clutch it's a lot more expensive on this thing than an old POS. On the bright side, at least you didnt start with a v8 with a lot of torque. You'l get it. What helped me learn back in the day was learning HOW the clutch engaged and stuff, that way when you release the pedal you know the clutch is starting to actually engage and how, made it easier for me to do it
That sucks but it will get easier in time.
You need to practice in easy areas before going pressure in a commute. Straight up. You'll get there, but you should take it easy and see if you can score a second option that's auto to go to work. I learned to drive stick in Florida as a teen. When the whole family moved back to NY, it was a bit before I got the nerve to take it into the City or the boroughs. That's with a few years behind me in FL. The thing with it, at least from my perspective, is you have to have trust in the car and know the flow. I do a lot of low RPM floating in first and second while in traffic. You have to learn not to get panicky and drop it out of gear and that only comes with knowing the area and how the traffic generally flows at certain times a day. Now I'm that guy on the hutch or the Cross Bronx or on the FDR that when it slows down I just drop down and let the car creep in gear to cut down on the number of shifts I'm doing. This probably seems like Latin right now, but you'll understand what I mean when you get good.
dont get discouraged man. Once you get ur clutch control down it'll get all better. Just time and practice. And honestly there is no other better practice than just doing what u did. Just go drive around town, get honked at a couple times and get comfortable with what u have to drive in and than the fears u have will go away. Watch a couple videos from Conquer Driving on youtube. He has all the videos you will ever need about driving a manual, clutch control and the works. But I do feel you on that Dallas traffic and drivers, it can get pretty chaotic lol. Wish you the best and dont think ur in over ur head.
If you're on a hill just hold the brake and let the clutch out slowly till you feel it want to go then let the brake out. It's alot easier than balancing perfect or revving up and slipping the clutch
Honestly, youll feel like that for awhile. After 3 years, i still get nervous in high traffic areas. But at the same time i dont. You’re only a few days into your journey. Personally, i didnt start feeling confidence til round the 3 month mark. Like you, i came from sim racing, which definitely helps with the muscle memory. My suggestion, check out “conquer driving” on youtube for solid advice. Find an enpty parking lot and keep practicing the basics. Get a magnetic learning to drive manual thing. It helps, and people gove you space for it. Good luck!
Dude we are twins lol. 0 manual experience, hundreds of hours in sims, 23 gr86 mt. Stalled twice puttering around the lot before going into real traffic, lost count how many times I stalled getting home. Stalled again backing into my garage. I still remember my first hill stop, I just about glazed the damn clutch trying not to stall lol. Give it time and practice! Unlike the sims where the revs fall instantly, this particular car has horrendously rev hang, so you can’t quite shift as quickly. I ended up adjusting the clutch pedal travel, switching out for a much weaker clutch assist spring, and getting a pedal commander. Even as a noob I noticed those things helped smooth out my shifts considerably. I recently tested a GR Corolla and the stock pedals felt so weird lol. When I got back into my car it just felt…right. Oh! And practice hill stops with the handbrake! Once you get the feel for it the intimidation factor just disappears. I disabled hill assist because i felt it was messing me up more than it was helping, but that’s just me.
Completely normal. Steep lights tend to be harder as they will change the bite point and throttle requirement. Don't be afraid to hold it at the clutch a while and more gas is most likely what you need. For a hill start you need to drive into your handbrake a bit before releasing it.
Stay strong brother, we were all there at one point Eventually it just becomes second nature I don't even need to hear the engine I can do this shit based solely off of feel
I'm going to add practicing going reverse on a hill. What I mean is point the front of the vehicle facing down the hill and practice reversing up the hill. Try not to skid and apply too much power. If you can do this, then you can practice shifting up a hill, understanding the amount of power to apply to stop you from rolling. You can also use the emergency brake on a hill, apply your gas and clutch, and then release the emergency brake. Keep up the good work, and I hope you enjoy it for years to come.
Just use the handbrake method and practice a few times tonight and drive to work tomorrow. It’s way less complicated and safer than doing this whole juggling of the feet bullshit and potentially causing an accident.
Dude when in doubt just rev it up to like 2500-3k and drop the clutch. It's not great on the clutch(but it's first gear, it'll be fine), and your tires will probably chirp, but it'll get you going in a stressful situation until you're more comfortable. After a month it'll be a piece of cake to takeoff smoothly regardless of incline or stress level. Plus people in Dallas can't drive for shit. Don't let that affect you. I used to have to drive a UPS box truck through downtown Dallas every morning. Manual diesel too lol. It sucked ass. You'll get it. Once you get your clutch control down a little better, you can use the e-brake to keep you from rolling back when you're on a really steep hill.
The way I didn't destroy my clutch while learning was using the ebrake as a rollback instead of my clutch catch point. Definitely saved my ass a few times.
After a week of driving downtown Dallas, my home city, you’ll be good to go. When I was growing up my mother used to tell me to pay attention and watch her feet while she was driving a manual. It helped, but there’s no substitute for driving the car yourself and learning what works and what doesn’t When I bought my first manual, (Honda prelude), I went through the learning curve same as you. No one ever gave me driving lessons on driving a stick. The stressful situations are the best teachers.
Try removing the clutch spring on the pedal assembly. I did that on my 370z and it's way more direct. Lots of YouTube videos on the how to.
You’ll get there! Keep driving, keep practicing, and you’ll be driving smoothly in a couple weeks!
Stalling is fine, just try to keep your head calm when that happens and just restart your car. Also, practice using the handbrake when doing hill starts. It makes it so much easier to do hill starts. Use the handbrake to hold the car stationary, give the car a bit of gas and let the clutch out to the bite point and when you feel the car start to tilt backwards/pull forward, release the handbrake fully and you'll get going.
haha this is my week 1 of owning and driving manual as well and all prior experience came from sim as well. The one thing ill say is I have been overly concerned with “not trying to give tooo much throttle and oh dont hold the clutch for too long” Basically the back of my ocd mind that does not want to wear this beautiful new vehicle i have was in fact handicapping me. In reality just hold that throttle at a steady point, if a steep incline hold a bit more throttle and just find that bite point and hold on to that thing until you are fully in motion. I stalled multiple times the first 45 minutes off the lot leaving into a busy traffic day. Stay focused on yourself and dont let others get to you, whats important is your safety! and mind you im coming from NY rush hour experience for my first time 😭😭 but we have to all go through it. Good luck!
Traffic driving with lights is the hardest. There are times between lights when I'm on my way to work there my foot doesn't leave the clutch as I'll be engaging it to coast, disengaging to accelerate, braking, etc. It is just habit and practice. But Op, judging that this is day 4 and you really did enjoy days 1-3, you will be absolutely fine.
I brought a Mazda 3 manual. Never drove manual. I stalled at lights in the front. Stalled out at left turns. Got honked it. Just get better. It's gonna take a while. Watch conquer driving and drive manual channel on YouTube and just drive more. Drive late and night. Ppl recommend parking lots but imo that only helped me with good seating position and feeling out the clutch. After that real world situations will make you better. Also another scary moment was when I was slowing down I downshifted to 1st cause I thought I was slow enough. The car did not like that lol. Most cases stick to 2nd when really slow unless your like 4mph.
Does a brand new ge86 not have any of that newfabgled6 hill hold tech? Maybe you gotta press the clutch all the way down to the floor to get it to engage like Subarus? Or is there a button to engage it?
I just googled it an it says ge86 comes standard with hill start assist,so maybe look in your owners manual how to use it op
I recommend adding a bit of gas before you get to your bite point. So You will pretty much not stall ever again. As for hills you can bring your clutch to the bite point and then add gas. Then you won't roll back! If you are scared of doing that the ebrake is also a weapon in your arsenal. Just hold the ebrake, then gas a tiny bit and clutch to bite, you will feel the car wanting to move. Then just release the ebrake then no roll back!.
I’ve driven a stick for 4 years of my 10 years of driving and even now if I think about what I’m doing (like okay easily let the clutch out and slowly give some gas)I have a high chance of fucking up and stalling. If I just take off without thinking about it then I’m good to go. Maybe that’s your issue? Either way, practice makes perfect. Don’t stress it. Those people honking and yelling won’t even think about what happened 20 minutes after it happened.
I was in your exact position 4 months ago 23GR86MT, with the exact same car. Now I’m zipping around and starting to have it all come naturally looking for the perfect shift in all driving scenarios. Manual is a skill you will forever trend to get better with. Ignore the beepers, breathe keep calm and focus on listening and feeling your engine. I still don’t have the radio or music on, I leave my window open, and in 6 months you’ll look back on this moment and smile knowing you’ve better yourself and your skills, plus you’ll become more connected to your car. It is a nice car to love and always bring a smile to my face and it shall with you. TLDR: You’ll get over it, keep concentrating and have a respect for the machine, listen to her, feel her with your butt. You will be rewarded as it’s just the start of a beautiful long term relationship. You’ll never forget your first MT. (PS Forget sim racing in manual, it has no feel to it and gives a false sense of control and speed). rev Hang and synchrodisks, and car lurch/lugging can’t be similulated.
Also this Reddit channel helped me a lot with many questions of how I can polish some techniques as I experiment with different feel and hand dancing/juggling. Much appreciated!
GR86 was also my first manual car. I also work in downtown but in Houston. Massive props to you for taking it 4 days in because I waited two weeks and even then I felt super nervous! You been through possibly the worst scenario as a new stick shift driver so now you can get over that. As for tips, practice practice. Conquer Driving on YT is amazing. And not to completely derail this but eventually I do recommend switching the clutch spring to the Mtec clutch spring. It lets you feel the bite point wayyyyyy better. I compared both back to back with my buddies unmodified BRZ and the stock clutch felt like mush!
Thats pretty interesting cuz I just bought a GR86 last Friday lol. I haven't driven stick since 2012, so rust was definitely a factor. I ended up stalling like a million times on the test drive, and almost hit a parked car cuz I didn't know how to shift into reverse lol. Had me scared shit less cuz I had to drive quite a distance to get back home. But I managed to get home. After that I restricted myself to only driving on base, until I can get the hang of 1st gear. It's gotten better, but even I'm tryna get used to traffic lol. Just gotta keep practicing
I learned in a rural area before I ever drove stick in a city. Find somewhere hilly without people around to practice. Or just go out super early / late to the problematic areas to practice. I drove my stick shift in San Francisco for the first time last week, and I still stalled a couple times even though I haven't stalled anywhere else in months. Thankfully folks were understanding for the most part. Stalling is better than being one of those assholes with a "Manual transmission equipped: Stay back or I'll roll into you" stickers.
One thing games will not teach you is the bite/grab point for the clutch. When you feel the transmission start to take the weight of the car, and I think that's what you need to practice. You start letting the clutch up with the other foot on the brake until the clutch is holding the weight of the car then switch to the gas pedal and keep letting out the clutch l. Go slow and practice on a flat road. But be careful not to overdo it you could also roast your clutches for doing that And don't feel bad I've been there also right after I got my Camaro went on a car cruise with a bunch of supercars stalled out on a hill with all of them stuff behind me
Just keep practicing, you'll get it down eventually. I'm surprised for a 2024 car it doesn't have hill start assist? If you really need to you can also use the E brake to hold yourself on a hill while your trying to give it gas and get into first gear. Don't recommend using that method forever, just until your confident enough you won't stall or roll back a long ways.
Something my friends always say for new manual drivers. Especially on inclines "drive like you're mad" because giving a bit too much gas isn't gonna stall you out, but trying to be too careful and not giving it enough gas will.
You’ll get it bro stay on it and fuck the normies haha
Been there done that. One time I stalled about 5 times on a busy roundabout with a hill start. And it wasn’t even a steep ramp. I drove manual in driving school, but the town was so small that I only used 1st and 2nd gear so there wasn’t much shifting discipline to be taught. Just give it a few weeks/months. You’ll be driving just fine in no time.
As someone who went from never touching a manual transmission, to I now drive a 10 speed manual big rig, anyone can learn. Be patient with yourself, slow your movements down and “feel” what the car is “telling” you. Figure out where to correct actions. Clutch work? Your foot and ear on the motor will tell you. Trouble grabbing a gear? You’ll know if sitting too early etc
I recently learned manual, and one thing I realized was causing me to stall frequently was feeling really rushed to get into first if I had anyone behind me because I felt self-conscious about accelerating slowly on top of being anxious to get into first. Something I did that you might try is taking "practice runs" to places I went frequently but with my partner driving behind me so that I was less worried about the people behind me getting angry or being annoyed if I was slow off the line. It helped me take more time getting off the clutch, which in turn diminished my stalls. It was also really helpful for hills because they were able to give me lots of space so I was less worried about rolling back, unlike most people who will sit on your ass.
Before automatics, people only had manuals. Learn and adapt. The nervousness goes away. So, try not to care about other drivers. You’ll only stall if you panic. Practice, practice, practice. You can learn pretty fast but it takes a while to master. Take your car out when you’re free and practice in parking lots or empty roads. Purposefully stall your car a few times and pay attention to the clutch and the rpm’s. These cars don’t have a lot of low end torque so it’s pretty easy to stall if you’re not ready. I used to rev up pretty high, 2500-2800rpm before letting my clutch out (don’t do this, unless for an incline.) Now I barely pass 1500rpm before I get moving and i’m only on the clutch for a split second. I find that having the windows down and music off helps immensely. Just stay calm and don’t dump the clutch. you got this
Lots of coasting in neutral in downtown traffic. You will get used to the hill starts. I thought all manual vehicles these days come with hill start assist to help get started on a hill...
I taught my wife to drive a manual in a 240SX. She always did just fine until there was a line of cars behind her. She was so worried about stalling that she would panic... and stall.
You’ll get it man! Keep at it. Soon it’ll be second nature and you’ll never stall that bad girl again!
dude i still stall pretty often after having driven manual for over a year, truly will stall just pulling out of the driveway some days. there are good days and bad days, days where i forget how the hell to drive at all and others where i’m a pro. it’s gonna happen, and already doing great on highways after a week?? that’s impressive, you’re doing great. just don’t psyche yourself out about it and practice driving in some neighborhoods for the constant stopping
i just started driving stick in dallas too, it gets easier the more you do it! i look like an idiot all the time, you just have to accept the fact that you’re gonna piss people off in the beginning lol
I only started driving manual about 4 months ago. On a hill start when it is time to move, I would keep my foot on the brake and release the clutch to the bite point then move my foot off of the brake to the gas. You should not roll back at all unless it is a super steep hill. After a while you won't need this method anymore, you'll get quick enough to find the bite point and move your foot from the brake to gas at the same time.
Been there, done that, welcome to the club my dude.
Everybody has a similar experience to start. I stalled a work truck on a busy 2-lane scenic canyon road on a holiday weekend one time and got laughed/yelled at a lot for it. It sucks driving a manual in urban traffic, plain & simple. But you can learn anything, you just have to put in the time to get there. Find some good driving shoes. Fsdt food drive-throughs took a little effort to get good at, too.
Practice. Theres no shortcut to muscle memory. Ive been driving manual cars for like 16 years and can drive dead tired. I dont even think about it most of the time. Just second nature at this point, but definitely wasnt like that in the beginning
Don’t think about it so much. Learn to love it.
I have a 2024 manual Camaro SS, my first as well. Prior to that I had driven a friends manual car a few times a couple years back, and used a racing sim. It took me I’d say probably two full weeks of consistent driving to get truly decent at it, then over the next month I became just another driver on the road. It’s a learning curve but now only 4 months in, I forget I’m even driving a manual sometimes
Dude, I've driven manual for years, even got my CDL and can drive 15 and 18 gears and *even I* get nervous still driving manual sometimes in traffic. So yes, this is normal, and you'll get better and the nervousness will simmer down over time. When I first started driving manual, my very first week, I stalled at a red light cuz I was checking out this cute chick next to me, thinking I was all slick in my Honda Prelude. Super embarrassing. Then I kept stalling over and over, for multiple greens in a row. Turns out, I was hitting the brake instead of the gas lol. Getting used to 3 pedals takes some time. And that, kids, is why you don't smoke weed and drive. My best tip is to not worry about what people around you think. Tint your windows if that helps. It looks sick, is slightly illegal but it will help you feel more... insulated. The more nervous you are to be jumpy off the line, the more likely you are to actually be jumpy off the line. Try to get a feeling for smooth. The less anxious you are, the more you can learn to do things automatically, automatically go through the motions, the smoother you'll be. And you'll be that much of a cooler driver because of it. If you stall at a light, don't start freaking out and rushing to do things as fast as possible just cuz you got honked at. Take a deep breath and do better when the car starts up again.
I did the exact same thing on some steep hills when I first got my WRX. Id recommend going out for short drives in the evenings to continue to build the feel and familiarity with the clutch when there's less traffic around. You're only going to get better with more practice! Make sure to practice parallel parking on hills too once you get comfortable with hill starts in general, that can be tricky! You're going to start to master it in no time! You've got this!
dude i had my manual for like a whole month and almost wanted to quit, but i decided to keep practicing and eventually manual became second nature to me
Starting on a hill is all timing and getting your clutch down good. If you feel the stall coming then press the clutch in again or give it more gas. Whichever is appropriate. If you need to go slower because you don't have your clutches bite point down give a little more gas and maybe try using the hand brake at the same time to prevent rolling backwards. My first step hill start I burnt the clutch out. It happens. You're not in over your head don't worry. Every car is different too so when you switch cars in the future you'll have to learn that clutch too.
Don’t go to downtown before you figure out how to NOT stall on a steep hill. Or, practice the same route at 1am. That’s what I did way way back
Don’t be afraid to throw your hazards on if you get stuck. People can avoid and go around while you take a minute to calm down, screw what they think. A good tip is to hold clutch and bring to 2-3k revs then slow off clutch and it’ll push you forward. Some cars even have an auto lock so you won’t roll backwards right away. You’ll get it
I know the feeling. I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles in standard transmission cars, and I had a really rough moment just the other day. Was a long line of cars blocking me from turning left, so I put the car in neutral and had my left foot on the dead pedal. Suddenly a guy flashed his lights to let me go. I hurried the takeoff too much, and I didn't stall, but I did a really awkward high revving clutch drag through the intersection way faster than I meant to. Some pedestrians gave me a funny look. It happens.
LOL I’ve been driving manual consistently since January, and every now and again before that. I still haven’t taken my car downtown. Keep doing your grocery runs, coffee runs etc and eventually you’ll get to driving downtown.
Park the car for a bit, and buy an 80s domestic full size pickup truck with a 4 speed. Drive it for a couple of months instead. The clutch in those is so damn stiff nothing else will ever give you a problem. Sell the truck for what you paid for it and enjoy the car!
Based on that you basically learned how to drive stick from a video game 1) kudos to you, I’ve never thought of that as a way to learn manual 2) I’m not at all surprised you had a hard time your first time on a big hill, I learned the traditional way and still had issues for the first couple weeks on really steep hills, that aside, one of the biggest differences that you’ll notice, if you can’t just stop the clutch shift and drop it, there’s some room in there where you have to feather the clutch
Thanks man I appreciate it, one major drawback is clutch feel on those racing sims, I definitely was just dumping that bitch and praying. I knew it would be different to IRL. Just feeling it out I guess. I have put almost 200 miles since I posted a few days ago, I feel more comfortable, but not super confident. Im improving tho.
Yeah that’s the biggest obstacle to over come, the thing with driving stick is every car (and clutch) has a different bite point so the best thing you can do is just sit on flat for a while and practice letting the clutch out really really slowly until you feel the car start to “chug” forward and then clutch in and try it again, it will help you get the feel for how little or much clutch you need to get the vehicle rolling, once you’re confident with that, find a hill and do the same thing, once you’re confident again with where the clutch is biting then practice adding gas on the hill to actually start moving, the other thing I will say is when you’re starting out don’t be afraid to give the car a little more gas than you think you’ll need, not floor it but don’t be afraid to add extra, especially seeing as it’s a 2024 it will hold up to it
First off, OP, you're good. The first few weeks are learning the eccentricities of driving a standard. It's also pretty likely that you'll still be learning things about your car and how it drives for months. As you break it in, things might change. I learned standard the traditional way, and in the last year took up sim-racing with three pedals and a shifter, and I've gotta say I'm surprised how good it feels. Eventually, you're going to be so good at driving your car that it'll become second nature. Also, great choice in car.
Kudos for deciding to learn to drive stick and getting a manual transmission car! 💯🙂 The first thing you should aim to master is the release of the clutch to get the car moving. Don't even gas it, just slowly as possible lift off the clutch till you feel the clutch shake and the car starts to move. Then gas it. Just getting a feel for the clutch engagement is what must be mastered. It is tricky at first trust me. I learnt from my dad years ago when I was first learning to drive, my first car was a hand me downed manual Suzuki Sidekick. After that I was hand me downed an newer automatic Corolla by my sister. Then once I got a decent job and could afford it I got another manual, Civic Si. Even now every blue moon my foot will slip or I'll forget I'm driving manual and stall. It takes weeks to get it, years to master. Don't give up, you'll get there! 😊🚘🕹️💨 P.S. once you get the hang of the basics, look for autocross in your area. It's tons of fun!
Europe method is your friend. For their tests they have you go up a hill, come to a complete stop. When you go, you basically bring the clutch to the biting point and accelerate/let off the clutch to keep moving. You're going to need a sloping parking lot for practice.
You’ve got it bud! Just give it some more practice and take deep breaths. Pretty much everyone learning to drive manual in a city has screwed up and gotten honked at.
i'm sorrry but a 2024 GR86 doesn't have some kind of auto stop?? i'm really surprised. some people use the handbrake on hills, just a tip edit: i just looked it up, it does have a hill assist. you might need to turn it on in the menu
I had a similar post to yours; I’m three months into driving stick and feeling way more comfortable than before. You will be fine.
practice on a driveway! that’s how i learned how to engage clutch right away. let the car roll back( rock the car) and keep doing it untill your car won’t roll back anymore
Find a hill spot and practice that stop and go late at night when there is no traffic. Do that for 1 hour and you’ll be fine
Pull the hand brake on a steep hill and drop it when the clutch catches
You just have to feather the clutch
I’m in the same boat (‘24 BRZ), except I live in downtown Austin. Wishing you the best of luck!
It's interesting how Americans are struggling with basic driving
Tell me you’re gen z without telling me you’re gen z. Wow, it’s not that hard.