Advice on driving the Type R

[Cueyo]

Completely agree. Rev match downshifting isnt a critical skill at all, and its more of just having fun. I learned to drive manual on my first car which was a Scion tC for like 5 years. The biggest struggle for me was hills, but cars now have anti rollback which makes it super easy. The auto rev feature isn't a handicap like TC or VSA.

Been doing it since Sunday (so three days) and it's not that bad in all honesty, just so long as I'm not trying to go fast or heel toeing (which I'm not). Just kinda wait for the rpms to settle to right point then let the clutch out.

The rpm hold that auto rev match did has affected me waaaaaay more. That extra second that the rpm stayed at the right spot made upshifting so much easier. If anything I'd consider *that* the training wheels, not the downshifting.

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[menikmati]

The funniest thing is transitioning from a car that has auto-rev downshift to one that doesn't and then downshifting and dumping the clutch.

 

[Fl5#727]

Completely agree. Rev match downshifting isnt a critical skill at all, and its more of just having fun. I learned to drive manual on my first car which was a Scion tC for like 5 years. The biggest struggle for me was hills, but cars now have anti rollback which makes it super easy. The auto rev feature isn't a handicap like TC or VSA.

I honestly didn't start doing stuff like rev match downshift and heel toe downshift utill I got my GT350 a few years ago lol.

Even now Im going to have to relearn how to do it because my BRZ doesn't have an auto rev match feature the pedals aren't spaced like the Mustang and I can't easily grab the gas pedal lol. Not looking forward to it, but I'm not going to try to learn heel toe downshifting and left foot braking at the same time

left foot breaking is so sketchy lol. it’s funny how weird it feels with the left foot.

When people saying lugging, what exactly is the mechanical process happening? Is it just that the rpms are too low for the gear? Does it actually do anything bad? I try to avoid it by dropping down a gear but if it doesn't do anything besides make the car drive funny, then I'd be less worried

yes, just too low for the gear. definitely down shift if it’s lugging. you’re doing good it sounds
like though. especially for the first week. it will be much more natural fairly soon.

 

[Cueyo]

you’re doing good it sounds
like though. especially for the first week. it will be much more natural fairly soon.

Haha I felt pretty bad today, stalled 4 times, twice at a stop light with people behind me and twice by myself in front of a stop sign

The day I can drive to work and back without stalling once I'll consider myself pretty good

 

[Fl5#727]

Been doing it since Sunday (so three days) and it's not that bad in all honesty, just so long as I'm not trying to go fast or heel toeing (which I'm not). Just kinda wait for the rpms to settle to right point then let the clutch out.

The rpm hold that auto rev match did has affected me waaaaaay more. That extra second that the rpm stayed at the right spot made upshifting so much easier. If anything I'd consider *that* the training wheels, not the downshifting.

yep. it’s pretty cool once someone mentioned it to me and i noticed it. 1-2 yes i don’t do it perfectly everytime, but 2-6 with rev match on it makes it very consistent with that needle falling and kinda holding at the rpm it needs to be at. it’s almost dummy proof really. i love it.

 

[Cueyo]

don't downshift to 1st. that should only be used to get rolling until you have a lot of experience. I never downshift to 1st unless I come to a complete stop.

I try my best to downshift to second and then throw it into neutral for stops, is that best practice, or should I downshift all the way down when stopping? Currently I'm not good enough to go from like 5-4-3-2-1-N via downshifts, so instead I do 5-4-3-N or some variation. Only time I can downshift to neutral, I usually have no reason to go to 1st

 

[Cueyo]

yep. it’s pretty cool once someone mentioned it to me and i noticed it. 1-2 yes i don’t do it perfectly everytime, but 2-6 with rev match on it makes it very consistent with that needle falling and kinda holding at the rpm it needs to be at. it’s almost dummy proof really. i love it.

Not having autorevmatch on is like watching all your friends get a new toy as a kid and being stuck with an old one lol. The autorevmatch just makes this car shift so well!

 

[menikmati]

I try my best to downshift to second and then throw it into neutral for stops, is that best practice, or should I downshift all the way down when stopping? Currently I'm not good enough to go from like 5-4-3-2-1-N via downshifts, so instead I do 5-4-3-N or some variation. Only time I can downshift to neutral, I usually have no reason to go to 1st

There's no singular "best way" to do it, use whatever method works for you to get the best possible driving result.

I'm not a big fan of being dogmatic about things. Telling someone to do (or not) do something without any real explanation benefits no-one.

I would suggest to analyze what caused you to stall when it happens and adjust from there.

 

[Fl5#727]

The funniest thing is transitioning from a car that has auto-rev downshift to one that doesn't and then downshifting and dumping the clutch.

hahaha. like my rx-7. the back end want’s to go sideways lol

i’m not very used to rear wheel drive
cars i barely drive the thing.

I try my best to downshift to second and then throw it into neutral for stops, is that best practice, or should I downshift all the way down when stopping? Currently I'm not good enough to go from like 5-4-3-2-1-N via downshifts, so instead I do 5-4-3-N or some variation. Only time I can downshift to neutral, I usually have no reason to go to 1st

yep you got it. just keep doing that. if you can help it and not have to ever shift into first unless you are lugging second too much, i think that is the best method. leave the 2-1 shift for very few scenarios. so yes anytime i can get away with staying in second i always will. you got this dude!

also you might like to mess around with the brake hold function also. you have to turn it on every time you start the car but it’s a pretty cool feature also. i don’t ever use it just by habit but it’s cool when i randomly remember. and definitely can help you get moving easier without as much foot action.

 

[TchnoZ33]

I personally think you should spend the next few months getting really proficient at just normal up shifting and leave the auto rev match on for now. To get truely smooth at shifting takes some time.

Trying to learn how to rev Match with heel-toe downshifts, in my opinion, is not an easy task to do well. But….once you get the hang of it, it’s a LOT of fun. For me it is still VERY satisfying, even though I have been doing it for over 10 years ha.

I don’t know what your foot size is but the first mod I did on my car was to put the acuity pedal spacer in place. I hated how far the accelerator and brake were from one another…way too far for my size 9 narrow foot.

 

[TchnoZ33]

Also, when yall say rev match downshift, are yall talking about heel toe downshift?

 

[Cueyo]

I personally think you should spend the next few months getting really proficient at just normal up shifting and leave the auto rev match on for now. To get truely smooth at shifting takes some time.

Trying to learn how to rev Match with heel-toe downshifts, in my opinion, is not an easy task to do well. But….once you get the hang of it, it’s a LOT of fun. For me it is still VERY satisfying, even though I have been doing it for over 10 years ha.

I don’t know what your foot size is but the first mod I did on my car was to put the acuity pedal spacer in place. I hated how far the accelerator and brake were from one another…way too far for my size 9 narrow foot.

I'm a size twelve, tried heel toeing today and I just don't got the ankle mobility (or maybe my foot too big lol). Currently I downshift and rev match by clutching in, switching gears, revving to my desired rpm, then pulling the clutch out when I'm at the right rpm. Usually I'll let it wait if I rev too high. Have also been mixing in the brake when I slow down.

I've gotten pretty fast with it that way and was able to shift down multiple times to 2nd from higher gears. Definitely gonna need more experience to do it the heel toe way.

I think I'm now at the same skill level as I was Saturday before I turned off auto revmatch. Today was the first day I didn't stall in traffic (but I still did while parking ).

 

[Cueyo]

Also, when yall say rev match downshift, are yall talking about heel toe downshift?

In my case I just mean any downshifting that matches the proper rpm needed for the lower gear, heel toe is it's own technique for that afaik

 

[TchnoZ33]

Oh…then rev matching isn’t too hard. Just blip the throttle and down shift. Heel toe…I know very few people personally that I think do it well.

 

[cryptolime]

so i've been rev matching for a while even with rev matching turned on. finally turned it off yesterday and i really like it. i think i've mastered rev matching enough to turn it off.

also, usually knock control shoots up to .65 after a couple pulls shifting at 5.5-6k rpms. but i bounced off the limiter in 2nd during a pull yesterday, and knock control didn't even go up.

so i'm wondering if auto rev match was effecting knock control behavior.

or maybe artificial knock control rise is disabled when hitting the rev limiter? doesn't make much sense to me...that was the first time i've bounced off the limiter in 46k miles. car took it like a champ!

edit: just realized this is the Type R section...this was in my Si...lol

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