Stick Shift Driving??

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,775
3
81
Is it possible to learn in one weekend?

Yes.

Is it possible to master in one weekend?

Sure , why not. THe only thign that says otherwise is that 99.999% of the population cannot in sucha short time frame.


Let me enlighten you as to why






Driving a manual is not about skill, about talent, about finesse.






It is about memorization and appropriately gauged and timed information recall, the former of which will govern the quality of your execution.




Sure, you may be able to do burnouts, 360s, drifting, and especially far easier manuevers in a parking lot, but when you are slowing down from 80mph to 15mph to merge in a no-yeild area onto a 50mph street, how much fvkign trust in yourself are you going to have that you will quickly and expertlly push in the clutch, downshift to secodn, check your mirrors, turn your head, check for a sweet spot, push in the gas, let out the clutch appropriately and be off soundly?


That is why you need more than a weekend.


Think about it this way.....




I you see a nude cown riding a bicycle wander into the street in front of your vechicle what are you going to do? Look, stare? You'll probably run him over?


Me? Yeah, I'll stare, I'll take a peek, but after I push in the clutch and break uniformly;)




Driving well is about learning it well and being able to recall not only that information, but acutallizing it in a very dependable and accurate manner.

You might learn to drive well quickly, but without the appropriate mental development in the areas of recall and actualization for that particular, and might I say, involved task, you're SOL.



Just a thought..take it home and chew it;)
 

holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
10
81
damn that's tough to learn in a weekend. And uh it's sunday so you're kind of out of time. That being said it can be done and I doubt the place will put you in a car at the interview. Hell when I bought my car I didn't know how to drive a stick but the salesman showed me and I drove it home. LOL that was some experience
 

RadioHead84

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2004
2,166
0
0
When i first got my manual car i had to go home to get it. I was at college and i needed to get back that weekend. I got it on friday night and i drove it home on sunday. Its a 2 hour drive from college and back and I did fine. Basically all your gonna need to do is practice all day. Start out in a parking lot with someone u know that can give you little pointers. Then try starting on a hill. After an hour or so with someone..take a lunch break and then just start driving around. Start on back roads or a neighborhood/park. Then get into urban or highways.

Really the only hard part of stick is getting the start down. And maybe the transition from 1st to second. After that its pretty easy..hence why highway driving is just as easy as if it was an automatic.

THis all being said....I wasnt as smooth as I am now. I have been driving stick for about 2 years now and its all second nature now...switchign gears is really smooth and easy. But for the first couple of weeks or so your going to be a bit rough..no other way around it. Really...the job interview might be a bit rough.

Also you need to take into consideration that the car your practice on is going to feel alot diffrent then the car you will be driving at work. Clutches feel REALLY diffrent from car to car. Heck when i got my clutch replaced a few months ago I actually stalled becuase it was such a change and it took some adjusting.

Good luck.
 

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
81
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Yep, it doesn't take that long to learn. To master it, however...


Especially considering that over 90% of people who have been driving stick for many years still do not know how to do it properly.....because they were never taught properly in the first place. There is NO need to slip the clutch ever under normal driving conditions, until you have ruined one by slipping it in the first place.