I’m doing the driving lessons and I dread them every time. I don’t feel like I’m improving much and it’s just stressful. I feel like giving up. I’m only going because I passed the theory exam with that school, and i would had to spend more money (that I don’t have) if I start again with other school, basically I’m too deep into it to stop.
Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option, one less BIG distraction on the road, especially when you’re new on these things, being too soft or too rough on the clutch is a matter of millimeters is ridiculous, watching the road, the signs, the traffic lights, the cars around you, the stupid people with their bikes, while fumbling in the car with the pedals is the worst… (unfortunately you must learn manual where I’m living).
It definitely gets easier in my experience. A lot of the things that take conscious effort right now are going to become reflexes and automatisms with more experience. Right now you are building that experience, and there isn’t really a way to speed it up. You just need to do each action dozens and hundreds of times, until you do it without thinking.
Driving a manual car, for example, is definitely more complex than an automatic one. You literally need to manage one more thing. But do not worry about it, you will change gears a lot during your practice sessions and build a lot of experience quickly. In a few months you will probably not think much about gears, and in a few years you will be managing them without giving it a single thought.
Fun anecdote, I recently got a new car and it is an automatic one while I previously only drove manuals. For a few days I couldn’t figure out how to start smoothly, and I was very confused… until I realized that starting mostly involved the clutch on my previous car. The first movements of my right foot used to be to keep the rpm under control while disengaging the clutch, which is just not needed on an automatic car. I was simply applying the same muscle memory to the new car without realizing it!
I’ve definitely tried to press in the clutch on an automatic a couple of times
Oh yeah, I know what you mean! I keep unconsciously reaching for the stick 😂
Your middle seat passenger doesn’t seem to mind so much.
being too soft or too rough on the clutch is a matter of millimeters is ridiculous
On this point specifically, don’t think of it as millimetres of distance. You act based on how the car responds, not trying to hit a specific distance of pedal movement. You already do the same thing with your other foot - you don’t think “I need to press the accelerator down 55 mm”, you just press it a bit more or a bit less until the car is going the speed you want it to go at. Same deal with the clutch, there just isn’t a dial on the dashboard that tells you where you currently have it.
You’re right that driving involves processing a lot of information at once that nobody is particularly familiar with absorbing when they start. It is difficult and dangerous. That’s why there are tests and licences. But in much the same way that typing was once completely alien to you and is now something you do with little active thought, you’ll get there soon enough with the clutch too. And if you learn it now, you’ll never be caught out in a situation when there isn’t an automatic option available
Exactly. Driving is a continuous real-time control process, with PID loops for speed, steering, clutch, etc.
I love manual driving! Sure it didn’t go super smooth when I first started, but after 2 years, I don’t even realize I’m shifting automatically. But it might be me that I want to have control over my car, rather than it driving for me.
Your trouble with the clutch and watching the road, that will definitely get easier with practice.
But what always remains stressful is that lots of drivers are insane cunts. As in, they should be in a psychiatry. They’ll tailgate you, if you have the audacity to drive the speed limit.
And well, other factors can be at play. I’ve probably got some flavor of autism, so having everything around me rattle and explode, and needing to constantly pay attention to the road, that stresses me out due to sensory overload. Even after multiple years of practice, I’m more than glad to walk to the shops.
Dunno what the laws are like where you live but might be worth doing some lessons with a friend on quieter country roads to get more practice with the clutch if possible.
With enough practice, driving becomes second nature to the point that you don’t really think about it. This goes triple for manual transmission cars because you have so much control over the behaviour of the vehicle that it almost feels.like.an extension of yourself. The learning curve is a pain but the payoff is worth it.
It’s really hard to imagine when you are trying to learn. You just have to trust it will happen. You are basically training unconscious parts of your brain, and at some point all the hardness just vanishes and some unconscious part of your brain just magically does all the hard stuff for you without you thinking about it.
Driving and shifting becomes second nature. It’s not something you think about. It’s like walking. You don’t think left foot, right foot, left foot… Uh oh was i at left or right?
Manual transmissions are operated almost entirely by “feel”. Once that sinks in, it’s a lot easier.
If you can, go find a quiet street, parking lot, or any place with an incline. Practice stopping in the middle of the incline and taking off without stalling. Don’t stress out when you inevitably stall. You will and that’s ok. If you can master starting on a hill, you’ll find that the rest of it comes a lot easier.
With the transmision in 1st and your foot on the brake, release the clutch very slowly until the engine starts dragging just a little. Slowly take your foot off the brake. You’ll know the clutch is in the right spot if it keeps you from rolling backwards. At that point, start to accelerate and let the clutch out slowly. Continue to accelerate and up the hill you go.
Don’t hesitate to hit the brakes at any time if you feel like you’re going to roll backwards. Better to stall than to roll back into someone behind you. Depending on the gearing, you may be able to start in 2nd and that will keep you from having to worry about shifting in the middle of the hill.
Don’t panic. Learning is good. If someone gets upset with you because you’re inexperienced and stall out then screw them. They should try to remember what it was like to learn how to drive. It just takes practice, practice, and more practice.
It gets easier with practice, I don’t know about where you live but in Portugal to get your license you can only learn manual and you have to do
4032 hours of driving lessons before the exam. By the end of the lessons it becomes second nature. We practiced a lot starting and parking in steep climbs and even rolling starting the car as if the battery was dead. But this was my experience, it changes from school to school.Since here the majority of cars are still manual, I believe we should learn them because its much easier to move to automatic than the other way around.
At the risk of sounding negative - if driving a car is too hard for you, maybe you shouldn’t. You’re going to be piloting a 4000 pound boulder down the road. Would you really be okay killing someone by accident?
We live in an age of Ubers & Lyfts. Taxis have never been cheaper nor more convenient. Being car free is totally possible.
Regardless, I would still encourage you to finish your studies and get your driver’s license, if only because it’s the one form of ID every adult is expected to have.
Being car free is totally possible.
Depends entirely on where you live, and how much you make. Sometimes owning and operating a beater is cheaper than getting Uber/lift/cabs to do a grocery shop every week.
Uber and stuff are for rich people. Taxis even worse, I’m doing this just to find a job
As with most things, it gets easier with practice. After enough practice, you’ll find many of the actions and reactions of driving will become habits you do automatically. Which is one of the reasons it’s a good idea to practice good habits now, as practice makes permanent. Take your time, and try to be predictable to other drivers (use your signals, don’t make radical maneuvers). And don’t let the assholes who think the horn is an “I’m annoyed at you” button get to you. Fuck them and the camel that came on them. Take your time and make sure you are driving your car in a way you can control.
As for learning on a manual, yes that increases the difficulty. Depending on the specific vehicle, it can make it easier or harder. Some clutches will let you get away with murder, others will murder you for being less than perfect. Many years ago, my brother owned a car with a clutch that was just brutal. It would go from “not engaging” to “fully engaged” within the slightest movement. My truck, on the other hand, the clutch was so forgiving, you damn near couldn’t stall it. Thankfully, I learned to drive a stick on my truck and when I tried my brother’s car, it took a lot less time to get used to it. As above, take your time and it will come to you with practice.
Where do you live that you HAVE to learn manual? Here in Germany you have a choice of either learning manual or automatic. If you learn automatic though you are only allowed to drive automatic cars and if you learn manual you are allowed to drive both.
You’re basically forced, there’s the option, sure but nobody takes it because for all jobs and stuff EVERYONE uses manual, so you shouldn’t even bother
Also my family is not rich, I can’t afford a car so I would have to use the only car they have, an old fiat Punto, manual obviously
Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option
This is a big problem with people these days. You admitted you suck at driving, you’re just barely learning how to do it, but you think you’re qualified to mandate what is available to everyone else? You do not have enough experience to have an opinion that affects other people. Stick shift is completely intuitive when you know how to do it.
Not OP, not a bad driver, have a class A (used to drive a school bus), and can drive stick.
I still think automatic is safer just on the merit of being less to think about. Especially when you have an extra large vehicle filled with kids.
See this is so alien to me because I’ve been exclusively driving a manual my entire adult life and I don’t think about it. No more than I think about which pedal is the gas, which is the brake, and which direction the car goes when I turn the wheel this way. I just drive.
The thinking involved in driving a manual is very minimal once you get used to it, so I reckon any safety issues caused by that would be outweighed by a reduction in the unfortunately common situation of unintended acceleration crashes. You are lot less likely to drive through the nearest wall (or kids) if your instinctual reaction to moving when you should not be is to also go for the clutch and cut power instead of just pressing harder on the wrong pedal.
I taught my kids to drive using an automatic transmission, then once they were good at handling traffic, and all the more difficult parts of driving I let whoever wanted to learn to drive my stick shift. But I personally feel safer, not less safe, when I have to pay attention to operating the car, and as things stand now, think it makes me a better driver - that may not matter once cars are more advanced but for now, with driver-operated cars, stick shift is the right level of engagement for me to not get distracted. I do hate shifting motorcycles though, because I am not as familiar with it and it makes me feel less safe. Which is how I imagine OP feels.
I think you missed my point
Nope. You dont enjoy driving, by your own admission arent good at it but want to deprive people who are good at it of their options.
If your crap in bed do I have to stick to missionary for the rest of my life too?
What
Your logic makes no sense
Automatic should be the only option
Because you seem to be incapable of recalling what you said.
You are being called out for having zero knowledge and then declaring what should be allowed.
Is literally one less big distraction on the road dude, yeah after I dunno how many hundreds of hours becomes less of a problem but it is now
Mate, you have zero experience how to drive but feel the need to tell others what is save and what not?
Can people please shut up talking about topics they know nothing about?!
It definitely gets easier after muscle memory kicks in. Doesn’t really make a difference if manual or automatic.
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It scared the hell out of me too, but soon it’ll be just like walking. When you were first learning to walk, you fell down a lot, and although most of us don’t remember it, you were probably reluctant to try again after falling. But you kept trying and it became second nature. Keep practicing and soon you’ll be singing along with the radio, eating a burrito and sending texts while merging across 6 lanes of traffic without even thinking about it.
Ok, maybe don’t do ALL those things. Just stick with it!
