Manual Transmission - Any tips for learning it?

[Shannon]

I've decided to try and learn manual. Does anybody have any tips or anything that might help? My driving is like crap when I'm trying to concentrate on the revs and the road at the same time.

 

[miata13B]

ok
first off start to actually listen to the engine you are driving with. That is the tell tale of when to shift if you don't want to keep looking at the rev limiter. Another good point is at first shift up gears when that red light blinks. The third tip is when you are downshifting, see where the needle drops to when you upshift and you have a downshift RPM to begin with, eventually you will learn when to downshift which is the hardest part of manual and voila, in no time you'll have it mastered. Plus, It will give you more control over the car in corners good luck. Oh yeah, try it with one car only until you have it down, makes it easier and fastter to learn

 

[Shannon]

Originally posted by miata13B
ok
first off start to actually listen to the engine you are driving with. That is the tell tale of when to shift if you don't want to keep looking at the rev limiter. Another good point is at first shift up gears when that red light blinks. The third tip is when you are downshifting, see where the needle drops to when you upshift and you have a downshift RPM to begin with, eventually you will learn when to downshift which is the hardest part of manual and voila, in no time you'll have it mastered. Plus, It will give you more control over the car in corners good luck. Oh yeah, try it with one car only until you have it down, makes it easier and fastter to learn

Thanks miata. I'll try these out.

 

[Brandono]

Also, people say its easier to see the Tach. if your doing the behind the car view. If you don't like that view, just keep it until you learn how to drive with manual.

 

[Sleek Stratos]

Everybody sucks when starting out with MT, give it some time, don't quit, I felt quite compelled to quiting since I wasn't very competitive but I got used to it. I hate AT now.
One thing I didn't notice was when I started getting dowshifting spot on.
I try not to upshift in a steep hill in the higher gears, like say I'm on the backstrecht of Deep Forest and I gotta go from 4th to 5th, I upshift at the top of the hill to get the revs to go up smoother/quicker in the downhill, this also depends on the car you're driving of course.

 

[ving]

the whole lot is on ya screen at one time regardless of view...

listen to the engine and use your peripheral (sp) vision to see where the revs are at...
god thats [poor english!

try shifting at or before the redline to start the move to fuel cut off when you are used to it

 

[FuJi K]

well if the GT seris included clutch for the cars....it would be much more funner...yes,,,funner haha Heel Toe action yO!

But anyway...some cars require you to shift earlier so you get maximum power. In GT2, the racing Skylines and Supras performed better when shifting 1-1.5K RPMs before redline.

 

[ving]

welcome to gt3 fuji! ;p

 

[HsV_CoUpE]

if ur gonna listen to ur engine b4 changing gear.... theres one sound u dont wanna hear....

"voom voom voom voom voom" *sound of engine after being left in 3rd for more than 30 seconds*

ull find it hard at first but it will come, gotta keep those eyes on the road

 

[ving]

like i said, use ur peripheral vision....

how to you drive a car normally? do you keep lookin at the revs? (and crash)...

have fun dood! never done the auto thing.. and never will

 

[icon]

the best way to learn is just dive into it. here are few pointers.

-different cars have different powerbands. if you are having trouble finding the best shift spots, look at the rev while driving automatic. this should give you a ball park as to when to maximize the power of the car. also the video examples in the game also give excellent pointers in shifts as well

-you can actually slow the car down via down shifts (you can hurt a car by doing this in a real car, but luckily this is a game). i usually like to downshift, brake, downshift, etc.

-you may have to look at the tach for now to get the shifts down, but afterwards you should learn to listen to engine rev for shifts.

-have fun

 

[ZZII]

Practice. Eventually you do it without thinking.

 

[Shannon]

Originally posted by ving
how to you drive a car normally? do you keep lookin at the revs? (and crash)...

I don't know. I'm not old enough.

Hence the reason I suck at manual.

 

[HsV_CoUpE]

i dont about u but when i drive i keep my eyes on the dvd screen

 

[ZZII]

Tachometer and engine sound are the best ways to know when to shift. If you wait for the little red flashing light you'll be a little late. I think some race cars don't even have speedometers, just tachometers. At least I remember hearing that somewhere. I don't know how that applies to the topic but it is an interesting fact.

 

[RotaryPower]

all good advice. i was looking at the guage at first, but after a while you just listen to the sound and know. i think auto sux cuz i have no control approaching corners and throughout. i cant play with auto anymore. it HAS to be manual.

 

[VIPFREAK]

Yeah, I don't know about you guys but here's the thing... I can drive a stick in real life and absolutely love it. It give's you something else to do rather than pick your nose or something. Anyways, I've never liked video games but when it comes to cars it's an exception. When I go to try to do manual in gt3 I become retarded because of a simple trait that I didn't receive which is called "eye and hand coordination". I've heard this is important to being able to play games. Now I can try to do manual till I'm blue in the face but until some one slaps me up side the head I won't see the tach or hear the revs which in real life would have ment that I don't have an engine anymore. Another problem with manual in a game for me with this very reason is that I don't have the senses that I do in reality, sight, hear and especially the feel of the car as you shift. Other than that it's hard enough sometimes to stay on the track.

Nick

 

[HsV_CoUpE]

set a ps2 up in ur car, start driving around and then start playing gt3 while ur driving .....trust me, ull feel like ur really driving

 

[VIPFREAK]

yeah see when you crash in gt and in reality they ain't the same it hurts a bit more, that goes for the genious watching a dvd while driving too...

Nick

On the other hand you can d/l a sound clip of an F1 racer shifting and play that while you drive... my dad does that in his rav4.

 

[HsV_CoUpE]

im a genious??

aww shucks

 

[Solid Lifters]

Maybe using the automatic with the R2 button might be better for you. I have used both the auto and manual transmission but my current favorite is the auto using the hidden R2 or L2 button trick to shift gears. This gives me freedom to concentrate on my drifting technique in corners and to be able to shift gears when I want to. Just a suggestion.

 

[Vasco]

Well, the best thing I found when my friend introduced me to it was practising on the license tests, eventually getting golds on them...

 

[Shannon]

Maybe this thread should be sticky, so anybody else who wants to learn manual can read this thread.

 

[Jay]

just practice it will all come natural soon
i never remember learning to drive manuals in game i always have
i never used auto's in any game (i rarely drive them in real life aswell)
but i taught my 9yr old nephew how to do it and he is pretty good after practice

 

[milefile]

Practice. It takes some time to get used to. I didn't use it for over a year. Now I can't believe I ever didn't use it.

 

[gearbrain]

I always use manual.I can go faster and thats the name of the game.
I`ve used the r2 button before too and it works great.With it you don`t have to worry about where to downshift.Good luck, you`ll get it.

 

[halfracedrift]

Use all those tips. Just keep at it. Took me like... what.. a day to get used to manual? and i never looked back. WIth manual you get alot more control over the car

 

[T13R]

Originally posted by HsV_CoUpE
set a ps2 up in ur car, start driving around and then start playing gt3 while ur driving .....trust me, ull feel like ur really driving

It would be awesome to turn the windshield into a monitor, and hook up your PS2 to it, while the controls are taken from the real steering wheel, and u got the accelerator, brake, CLUTCH, and shifter

 

[chinwa00]

Redline 1st gear, and in 2nd, notice where the RPMS drop to. Never go below this when its nessesary to downshift, and you should be fine.

 

[Vasco]

Sometimes in some cars redlining doesn't give you the best speed, sometimes you have to go above the redline, and sometimes you have to shift below it, that depends on whether the car is NA or Turbo, and I think a few other things.