Advice on driving the Type R

[KNIGHTRIDER666RSB]

I'm new to manuals, and more specifically the type R. Was looking for advice on how to drive this car and what i should be doing while learning stick.

So far I'm trying my hardest not to ride the clutch and putting the car in neutral as often as I can. I've been getting better at finding the biting point too, but I've definitely stalled at least a few times because I forget I have to clutch in when parking. I also find myself struggling to go from a stop to 1st, then 2st to 3rd quickly. Is this just something you get better with as you learn the biting point? I usually end up hitting 3500-4000 rpm going from 1st to 2nd and a coworker I asked said it's usually better to shift around 3000 if you can (this is under the assumption I'm not trying to go from 0-60 as quickly as possible). I'd like to learn stick best I can before I really drive the car hard, so knowing what's normal for the car is important to me.

In that regard, where should I have the rpm live when the car is driving normally? I try to "find" it by feeling if the car is shuddering or sounds like it's revving too high, but having a more concrete idea of what I should be doing would be helpful.

Any other pointers and tips would be appreciated too!

You finally got one, congratulations! What a step up from the sport 6MT, huh? I usually shift around 4k for normal driving.

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[chemreac]

Yeah I noticed that between my buddies 06 Toyota solara and the type R, the clutch is just so much easier to handle. I was struggling in hill starts with his car, but the type r doesn't need nearly as much "finding". In terms of rpm, I think I'll just try to stay in what gear the car feels happiest at my speed, the great thing about manuals (and the reason I wanted one) is how precisely I can control rpm and power output. The actual speed at which I shift may just be down to not knowing the process well enough, I find myself hesitating between gears, but I've gotten better. Have to keep telling myself the gear select is notchy since the solara I practiced on was not notchy at all.

That mechanical over-rev thing scares the hell out of me, second day driving I went from 5th at 2100rpm to 2nd and the rev march threw me to redline. Luckily no gear grinding, and I was in neutral prior so I think I haven't permanently damaged it yet lol.

dude, 3rd/4th are just up and down from the natural position, if you are pulling the knob you will keep doing that, when you come out of gear, like just use your fingers, it takes very little effort, and you still statt noticing yourself alsways being center for 3rd/4th

 

[Cueyo]

You finally got one, congratulations! What a step up from the sport 6MT, huh? I usually shift around 4k for normal driving.

Actually from the sport CVT! Even more of a change lol

 

[KNIGHTRIDER666RSB]

Good for you, brother. Hopefully you got a better financial plan than me. I bought a few upgrades for mine recently. When I get them all installed, I'll post pics.

 

[Cueyo]

Good for you, brother. Hopefully you got a better financial plan than me. I bought a few upgrades for mine recently. When I get them all installed, I'll post pics.

I don't think anyone would call a sports car a good financial plan . Luckily I had help from family and I've been saving for a while, also don't pay rent or mortgage, so that's a huge upside.

Can't wait to see those pictures!

 

[Two Step Performance]

Congrats on the new ride! There are some good tips here already. Practice will make perfect.

 

[FL5alive]

Also don't be afraid to use the "Brake Hold" as a new driver until you have it all
figured out. That was you definitely won't roll backwards.

 

[TypeRD]

Watch vids on proper hand positioning on the shifter and how it changes with each gear. It makes a difference and can help ensure you don’t miss shift. This may seem trivial, but I think many people learned how to shift from watching the F&F movies…which I believe may be a source of people money shifting.

Other than that, I agree with what has already been said. Practice makes perfect, but maybe more importantly practice properly. In weightlifting, they say it may take around 300 reps for the body to learn a technique. But if you learn it incorrectly, it may take 3000 reps to fix it.

 

[Tougefl5]

Find a big hill away from heavy traffic. Pull over in the middle of the steepest point. practice starting and going through the gears. You will learn the feel and nuance of clutch and gears. If not you will start to smell something strange and that's your clutch melting lol

 

[Cueyo]

Find a big hill away from heavy traffic. Pull over in the middle of the steepest point. practice starting and going through the gears. You will learn the feel and nuance of clutch and gears. If not you will start to smell something strange and that's your clutch melting lol

Second time practicing with a friend I got that smell twice lol. Really burned his clutch trying hill starts!

 

[optronix]

That mechanical over-rev thing scares the hell out of me, second day driving I went from 5th at 2100rpm to 2nd and the rev march threw me to redline. Luckily no gear grinding, and I was in neutral prior so I think I haven't permanently damaged it yet lol.

Yeah if it's just the rev match you're fine. The rev limiter will prevent any damage being done from just revving... it's when you release the clutch is the problem. The rev limiter can't do anything when physics takes over and the gear mechanically forces the engine to spin fast enough to match. That's when bad things happen.

But as long as the clutch was still all the way in, you're fine.

 

[Shingo Shoji]

All great advice. It's just pracice and then before you know it, it will be all muscle memory in a way and you won't even be thinking about it.

About the 3,000rpm shifting advice, I'll second what others have said. This car in particular feels at it best higher in the rev range (once warmed up of course). I find it bogs lower down and feels slow but shifting at 5,000-7,000 just feels like what it was meant to do. It feels like a completely different car higher up and that's the car I love. Daily driving and shifting lower just feels wrong somehow.

 

[Cueyo]

All great advice. It's just pracice and then before you know it, it will be all muscle memory in a way and you won't even be thinking about it.

About the 3,000rpm shifting advice, I'll second what others have said. This car in particular feels at it best higher in the rev range (once warmed up of course). I find it bogs lower down and feels slow but shiting at 5,000-7,000 just feels like what it was meant to do. It feels like a completely different car higher up and that's the car I love. Daily driving and shifting lower just feels wrong somehow.

I drove the car at higher rpms today and I agree it feels way better. Just feels like a horse in a small cage at 2.5k-3k, like it wants to go sprinting across the road. Ive only done pulls from 2nd-3rd, but they feel amazing and the car wants to keep going haha

 

[Cueyo]

I came upon the problem today, but what's the best way to tackle a turn (left or right) where you don't want to slow down too much? Was slowing down from 45 to like 10 and ended up just dipping into neutral and using momentum around the turn. Thought maybe I should've downshifted to like 2nd and used my gas pedal to control my turn rather than rely on the cars pre existing speed.

 

[Gansan]

I drove the car at higher rpms today and I agree it feels way better. Just feels like a horse in a small cage at 2.5k-3k, like it wants to go sprinting across the road. Ive only done pulls from 2nd-3rd, but they feel amazing and the car wants to keep going haha

Bear in mind that the higher the RPMs, the worse gas mileage you're going to be getting. Just warning you so you don't get surprised.

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