There are multiple "levels" of driving licence, effectively. You can drive a manual or an automatic if you have a full licence, but if you took your test on an automatic you can never drive a manual. Its rather complicated when you take into account the rest of the types of licenses you can get.. http://www.direct.gov.uk/Motor ... ID=4022547&chk=oQylE9

i've driven a real car(not on a road, just around a cemetary). IT's just like in LFS. You can even practice in LFS if you want.

@Evosports- your sig is just too good...

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Hmm... My girlfriend was learning to drive last year with this instructor woman, and she failed her test the first time. I told her to ditch this instructor (who sounded like a complete fruitcake) and continue with another, and the next instructor basically had to teach her everything because this crazy woman had taught her next to nothing.

Apparently he got a lot of her ex-students. And a lot of them had complained about her to the DSA. So... Get recommendations!

Point taken. I was really just stating that BSM/AAetc badges do not a great teacher make, they're just franchises anyway and their instructors are all technically self-employed like all the others are. From what I have been told in the past, the local, independant instructors that have been around for a while are as good as anybody and are usually significantly cheaper than the nation-wide "Driving Schools".

Keep an eye on others around you! It's not always YOU that is the problem!!

One good thing that I have not seen posted yet is center the car in the lane, and not yourself (because if your passager can reach out and touch the drivers shoulder, or vice versa, that would be an accident waiting to happen).

Quote from XCNuse :

well.. tristan, when you live in a country in which way over half of the daily commute cars are automatics, you dont really hear much about manual cars

I think you'll find that both in terms of ratios and absolutes the UK has more manual cars than automatics. Of course as modern automatics become cleverer the ratio changes, but America and Japan are by far the biggest auto box buyers in the world. Hardly anyone I know has an automatic by choice - if they do it's through circumstance or company car schemes.

Besides there isn't a single driver in the world who, from a driving enjoyment point of view, would prefer an automatic. Heck, the new 911 Turbo is quicker in automatic form, but I'd bet that every single manual car will create more smiles and satisfaction than the automatic...

oh yea, totally agree with you on that last point there, if I had a choice i'd much rather have a manual too, but im stuck with a GMC jimmy.. a truck isn't exactly the best place to have a manual though thats for sure lol

but for certain places like here in atlanta or in new york to be the best example, having a manual car is just not worth it in traffic when your moving a whole 10 feet every 5 minutes

@nono.. i would have conclude that that is obvious

just.. look out for people driving on the wrong side of the road, seen that happen twice in the past 2 days... the first one was some asian lady... go figure lol, not sure about 2nd person, they were going the wrong way on a one way street :S

I've recently started learning to drive proper, before I've messed around quite a lot in private car parks and the like, and a bit on the backroads where I used to live. The actual driving you will likely pick up very quick, the operation of a car is dead simple once you learn the basics. Its being aware of everything happening around you and how to react to it that takes time to learn. And whoever said expect every other driver to be a complete idiot is 100% right, you can never be too careful when trying to anticipate what other drivers are going to do.

It all depends on what kind of instructor you get. Mine was a friendly but almost at the end of his nerves and sometimes he went minutes staring at his papers not looking up while I drove around randomly. illepall

The most important thing is to be relaxed. I know it's hard but you would be suprised how much of a difference that makes. Don't worry about being bad at driving the first few hours, your instuctor has probably seen it all. He will probably take you to some isolated place for the first hour. Mine did...for 5 minutes then bang we're going to a high traffic road.

Learn the theoretical part to the word!

And definatelly learn what tristan said about braking, your objective is to learn to drive smoothly.

As for the final test: drive smoothly and watch where you look, the person evaluating you will be looking thru the rear view mirror at your eyes.


By the way is it just me or are all of the driving schools flawed? They learn you to drive "correctly and clean" but they never give you an opurtunity to try and race. You know, go to a racetrack and go wild. I never learned how the car will behave in extreme situations. Would probably show alot of streetracers out there what bad drivers they really are and how quickly you can loose control.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Besides there isn't a single driver in the world who, from a driving enjoyment point of view, would prefer an automatic. Heck, the new 911 Turbo is quicker in automatic form, but I'd bet that every single manual car will create more smiles and satisfaction than the automatic...

Driving enjoyament is a very variable thing. Some just love the automatic transmission. Easy to do hillstarts, good in traffic jams...

For a sportscar (or even for a sporty one) the manua is the way to go. It is the same thing as with automatic air conditioning (spelling?). Once you have had one, you can't live without it

well if its a standard car your using, mays well learn the heel toe double clutch downshift, its quite fun

Thanks for the bits and pieces of advice guys

I'm going to try not to kangaroo or stall it... *try*.

Kangaroo, I really never understood how the hell that would be possible after I drove a car the very first times about 6 months ago. You see that in the movies a lot, but how someone would do that? Jumping on and off the clutch maybe but how come you could be so stupid? :P

My advise is, hmm... forget you feet position in LFS, allways one feet for clutch. Game-style came to me too naturally and I was totally lost with my feets for first the 10 mins

It's really just a matter of experience, and believe me driving on the road is NOT like driving on the track or playing a video game

As multiple people have pointed out before me operating a car is easy but that's not really driving. Driving is going around rather than over/under or through all the other idiots on the road.

One of the most important things is leaving enough space between you and another road user to avoid them if/when they do something terminally stupid. However this is a skill that requires a little practice, since if you drive "cautiously" and appear to be hanging back leaving too large a gap then some clown who does not consider paying attention to other road users a relevent skill will come along and put a car or a white van in it.

That's the balance that comes with time :- leave enough space, but not too much, and enough space is determined by the car you're driving, the speed you're travelling at, how alert you're feeling, and how many other people are around you.

That's why you never actually stop learning to drive, no matter how long you've been doing it for.

Good luck with it, I passed long before theory tests, or parallel parking were considered necessary, [my examiner asked me to identify 3 road signs and tell him the highway code quoted stopping distance from 70 and that was it]. I do remember how hard it was to reverse around a corner the first I tried it, but other than that it was easier and a damn sight cheaper to get a full licence way back in 1988.

Quote from Stevo11811 :

well if its a standard car your using, mays well learn the heel toe double clutch downshift, its quite fun

oh.. yea.. thats REAL safe on the roads; theres no point in doing it either, unless your getting off on some ramp off of a highway or something, any other time you slow down and stop you just drop it into neutral, i cant really come across any times besides circular highway ramps that you need to actually downshift

For safety you should allways be in the gear with maximum power.

Especially going through a bend in neutral is just the stupidest thing ever. You're never going to pass your exam like that. (never give advise if your not sure)

Maybe for Americans a manual is some increadibly complicated thing but it's nothing special.

Use your brake to slow down, don't try pressing the clutch instead (I did first time I tried driving my mum's car )

Quote from MillerM :

For safety you should allways be in the gear with maximum power.

The power is the same in every gear; it varies only with load, rpm, throttle etc, but not gear

Don't forget that you're just being shown what you need to know to pass your test. You don't ever fully learn how to drive, you're always learning. I know people who have been driving for 30+ years and still can't drive in the at night.

But the best tip of all, if you see a male around his 20's in anything slow and crappy (a fiesta, clio, MX5, etc) they are a sucky driver, and give them miles of room

Quote from Stevo11811 :

well if its a standard car your using, mays well learn the heel toe double clutch downshift, its quite fun

had to be an american ... how many cars are still around that need double clutching at all ? in the past 23 years of my life ive never seen any car without a synched gearbox on the road (except for some very old vintage cars you see every now and then)

Quote from Blackout :

Kangaroo, I really never understood how the hell that would be possible after I drove a car the very first times about 6 months ago. You see that in the movies a lot, but how someone would do that? Jumping on and off the clutch maybe but how come you could be so stupid? :P

its pretty easy to do ... just dump the clutch hard with you foot lightly on the gas

I'm gonna go in September, and looking at my ex, how she acts with her car, I got one more suggestion: Not only think other people are morons, but also remember you're still a moron too. It's dangerous when people who are still learning to drive say: Yea, I can drive very good! Like... EVERYONE says that But actually they don't know sh*t...

Quote from tristancliffe :

The power is the same in every gear; it varies only with load, rpm, throttle etc, but not gear

You are right but in practice gear does dicide the available power at that speed. Gear selects the amount of revs and revs decide the amount of available power!

Lets say at a certain speed third gear gives you 2000rpm with 80ps and second gives 3500rpm with 150ps. It would be better to be in second approaching a trafficlight.

Quote from Shotglass :

its pretty easy to do ... just dump the clutch hard with you foot lightly on the gas

Oh, well yeah. The car only jumps once and then it stalls Kangaroos jump forever, and if someone drives a car like that he/she should really get a pogo stick and not a car :P

Quote from MillerM :

You are right but in practice gear does dicide the available power at that speed. Gear selects the amount of revs and revs decide the amount of available power!

Lets say at a certain speed third gear gives you 2000rpm with 80ps and second gives 3500rpm with 150ps. It would be better to be in second approaching a trafficlight.

Fair point, well made

Quote from Blackout :

Oh, well yeah. The car only jumps once and then it stalls Kangaroos jump forever, and if someone drives a car like that he/she should really get a pogo stick and not a car :P

nah when done correctly you step on the gas enough to keep the engine running