After all the n00bs complaining they can't last a race because they burn up the clutch, I think it's high time someone shows them how to drive a manual! So here I go!
Feel free to bring your expert advice, and I will update the guide.
THEORY (READ THIS, IT'S IMPORTANT)
In a manual car, the engine transmits power to the gearbox (or transmission or "tranny" as you fellow southerners say) through a spinning disc assembly called the clutch. It has several parts: Flywheel (on the engine), clutch plate (the important part), the pressure plate (which pushes the clutch onto the flywheel), the diaphragm spring (which is what is pushing the pressure plate) and the release system (what disengages the clutch when you press the pedal). The whole point behind the clutch is to disengage the engine from the gearbox so you can stop the car or change gears without stalling the engine or destroying the gears in the gearbox, and also to get moving from a stand still!
The clutch operates on friction. Slippage causes friction, friction causes heat, heat causes more slippage, and slippage causes more wear! The clutch material on road cars is often an organic woven heavy fiber from the factory, or what I call an area rug cut in a disc. It will slip easily and progressively, but doesn't like to be pushed hard due to low tolerances to heat. In fact, three or four drag launches in a Lamborhini Murcielago and the factory clutch is done. Therefore, not slipping the clutch any more than necessary, and not pushing more power than it can handle, is the key to keeping it alive!
GETTING STARTED
While this guide is written to get you driving a manual In Real Life, it is imperative you know this to play Live For Speed! For this guide, I will assume you have a Logitech G25 wheel or equivalent homemade 3-pedal and H-shifter setup.
You're in the driver's seat, but before you do anything, LOOK at the top of the shifter. It may look like this on most cars:
1 3 5
| | |
-----
| | |
2 4 R
Obviously, these are the gears. First gear is THE gear you use to get moving from a stop. Go ahead, engage the handbrake, push the clutch (the far LEFT pedal) and run the shifter through the gears in sequence, 1-2-3-4-5, 5-4-3-2-1, and so. ALWAYS push and hold the clutch to change gears! For Reverse, you have to either push a button, or pull a ring that is under the knob. For some cars, especially Honda, reverse has no synchro, so if it won't go into Reverse at first, try another gear then go the Reverse. You also have to be standing absolutely still (not moving forward or backward) to get Reverse in. Return the gearshift to Neutral (the ------- part).
First, you have to start the engine. But alas, turning the ignition does not start the car! In most cars, you have to push the clutch all the way down to allow the engine to start!
Start the car, and wiggle the shifter left and right. If it doesn't move, it's in gear. Move it back to center (Neutral) BEFORE letting off the clutch!
GET MOVING
If you have to back out of the driveway, tough luck. It's actually easire to release the clutch backing out. If you don't have to back out, skip this paragraph. So, put the car in gear R (if no synchro or you hear a horrible grinding when you try to go gear R, choose gear 5 THEN gear R), and slowly back off on the cutch. When you feel the car starting to move, stop rolling out the clutch until you feel it "hook", then release it the rest of the way. If you did it right, the engine should bog a little but you are going backward. If you did it too fast, the engine will stall. Don't feel embarrased. Restart the car and try again. Once you are backed out, put your LEFT foot on the clutch and your RIGHT foot on the brake. ALWAYS the RIGHT foot on the BRAKE! Shift into N and prepare for the next step.
Push in the clutch, and select gear 1. It should go in with little effort. If it doesn't, select another gear, then select gear 1. You pull the shifter to the left and up. Now, start letting go of the clutch, SLOWLY. You should feel a little "catch" as the clutch grabs the engine. The RPM should drop a little under idle. Stop rolling out the clutch until it "grabs", then let go of the clutch. If you did it right, the car should be moving at 5 MPH (or so) and the engine is at idle. If you released too quickly, the engine will either stall, or anti-stall will cause the car to shoot forward. It will also do a lot of "bucking". In any case, put your LEFT foot on the clutch and your RIGHT foot on the brake. ALWAYS the RIGHT foot on the BRAKE! Shift into N. Repeat this paragraph a few times, until you can feel where the clutch grabs, and how powerful (or weak) the clutch is.
Now you are ready to get moving. Push clutch, select gear 1, rev the engine up (little touch on the throttle) and roll out the clutch more quickly this time. If you did it right, you should be moving forward at a more normal pace. If you did it wrong, the car will either stall, or it will be "bucking", or it will take you more than 2 seconds to roll out the clutch. To prevent the wrong, you need to either add more throttle or roll out the clutch faster. When you are not using the clutch, ALWAYS put your LEFT foot on the floor to the LEFT of the clutch!
Accelerate lightly until the engine RPM reaches about 2000. Take your foot off the gas, push the clutch quickly, select gear 2 (straight down from gear 1). and when the RPM reaches about 1000, quickly release the clutch. If you did it right, you should be sailing smooth at about 10 MPH. If you did it wrong, one of the following happens: (1) Won't come out of gear 1. (2) Horrible grinding sound going into gear 2. (3) Car made a clunk or bang or thunka thunka thunka sound. (4) Car is bucking. For 1, you need to push the clutch BEFORE pulling out of gear. For 2, you need to stay on the clutch to the floor while you hit gear 2. Also, never force it into gear. For 3 and 4, you released the clutch at the wrong time, or it may be an odd gear ratio from 1 to 2. Now, shift down (straight up from gear 2) into gear 1, but this time, push the gas BEFORE releasing the clutch, bringing the engine RPM back into 2000. If you did it right, the car should be decelerating from 2000 RPM in gear 1. If you did it wrong, refer to the above. Repeat this until you can smoothly change up and down. Do this with all the gears, taking note of the speed you are moving in each gear at 1000 and 2000 RPM.
ACCELERATING
One thing you have to be mindful of is your RPM when accelerating. In gasolline (or equivalent) powered engines, you can NOT accelerate with the engine under 2000 RPM. This is because that amount of gasoline under power burns too quickly for the speed of the pistons moving, which is made evident by a loud rattling or similar loud abnormal engine noise. This is called lugging the engine, and is potentially damaging. Gasoline engines typically don't make sufficient power until at least 3000 RPM, so make sure you down a gear or two from gear 5 when you want to pass someone that is driving that slow.
COMING TO A STOP
To slow down, hit the brake, obviously, but don't stay in gear if it goes down to idle RPM. Push the clutch, select Neutral, and keep braking until you stop. If you aren't stopping, select the gear that's appropriate for your speed, rev the engine to the appropriate RPM, and then release the clutch.
GRANNY SHIFTING
Now that you understand how the clutch works, it's time to get moving quickly without harming your car.
First, you need to find the max in the lower gears. For this, you need a highway, where it is permissible to drive faster than 70 MPH. It would be good to have someone ELSE show you this part, so as not to damage the car.
Make sure the car is warmed up (5 miutes of the temp gague at the normal mark), free of any mechanical problems, and get ready to rock!
From a stand still, get moving in gear 1, but when you are off the clutch, give it the beans (foot to the firewall, pedal to the medal, balls to the walls, etc.) to the redline or the upshift light! Off the gas, On the clutch, take note of your SPEED, go to gear 2, and release the clutch. Note the RPM it stopped at! Give it the beans into gear 2, at the redline (or upshift light point), gas off, clutch on, go to gear 3 (middle and up), note the SPEED, release clutch, note RPM. Max power through gear 3, gas off, clutch on, note speed, and go to gear 4 (straight down) and note RPM. If you have gear 5, off gas again, push clutch and go to gear 5 (right and up). Note RPM. Now that you know the RPM and the speed @ RPM, this is where you are going to match the RPMs.
When upshifting, wait until the RPM goes down to the spot where it should be (a little bit above actually) for the gear you are about to engage, QUICKLY release the clutch, THEN mash down the accelerator. This method saves the cutch from wear, because it doesn't have to synchronize the engine, and it saves the drivetrain from the sudden "jolting" that occurs when the RPM is not matched and you quickly release the clutch. The disadvantage being that it takes a REALLY LONG TIME to change gears this way! This will also take time to master, but is essential to know in daily driving. Do take the time to learn how to match the RPM at different rates of acceleration, because you won't always be driving like a bat out of hell.
WARNING! THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS WILL PUT EXTRA WEAR AND TEAR ON YOUR CAR AND POSSIBLY BREAK THINGS! BY READING THE FOLLOWING YOU AGREE TO NOT SUE ME FOR DAMAGES DONE TO YOUR CAR(S) OR PERSON(S) BY FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS!
ClutchSaver™ SPEED SHIFTING
While this isn't really speed shifing, it is much faster than granny shifting and won't wear the clutch as quickly as speed shifting.
To do this, accelerate, and when it comes time to shift, change up to the next gear, and immediately after selecting the next gear roll out the clutch QUICKLY! At the moment the RPM matches, mash the gas! This will wear the clutch more, especially if you release the clutch too slowly, so the key here is to be quick off the clutch without "banging" into gear.
SPEED SHIFTING
Accelerate, and at shift time, pull the car out of gear the very moment you get off the gas pedal. Time it right and you should be able to gently touch the shifter to get it out of gear before hitting the clutch! Do not force the gear out! Make sure the clutch is down, and shift into the next gear as fast as you can, and just after it's in the next gear release the clutch QUICKLY!!! and at the exact same time punch the throttle! If you do it right the car will go into the next gear without any jerkiness, AND you will have taken only half a second to shift! If you release too slowly, you WILL roast your clutch! If you screw up the gear change, you will break the mesh ring that engages the gear, evident by that horrible grinding noise followed by the car being in gear but acting like it's in Neutral
POWER SHIFTING
This is a destructive habit! This is where clutches go to BURN! This is where newbies cry for mommy after three laps!
All you have to do is never lift off the throttle while shifting! When you release the cutch, possibly by sidestepping, the engine will be at the rev limiter! While it will give you that extra edge on acceleration, it is extremely damaging to the clutch and drivetrain, and if tthe clutch doesn't distintegrate from the heat (and cutches DO distintegrate into powder in some cases) it will wear out very quickly!
SIDESTEPPING THE CLUTCH
This is related to speed shifting. If you can't seem to release the clutch fast enough, there is another way. Instead of taking your foot off the normal way, slide it left off the pedal. This will make the clutch pedal fly back and cause the clutch to engage almost intantly! HOWEVER, this will only work without possibly harming your drivetrain from the sudden jolt if the RPM is matched exactly beforehand OR you have the throttle wide open.
DRAG LAUNCHING
This takes practice, and money. You will probably burn a clutch or two or three getting this right. The idea here is to rev the engine to a high RPM (depending on the car) and quickly release the clutch while hammering the throttle. You have to release quick enough to not burn the clutch, but slow enough that you don't spin the tires too much or stall. A fraction of a second here makes the difference between a successful start and a $1500 repair bill.
HEEL-TOE
This is an important skill to learn. If you are braking, and you need to be in a lower gear right off the brakes, you can try the heel-toe. To do this, make sure the toe of your foot is on the brake when braking, hit clutch, change gear, and rotate your foot so you can touch the throttle with your heel. Do this to match the engine RPM, then release the clutch. If done right, you should not have any jerky at all and be in the gear you need. It takes practice to heel-toe without pushing harder or softer on the brake pedal.
OOPS! WRONG GEAR!
This happens to the best of us. You punch it to gear 1, gear 2, gear 1 OH @#%*!
The FIRST thing you do when you choose the wrong gear and don't know it's a lower gear until you let off the clutch is PUSH THE CLUTCH IN! Do not think about it, just hit the clutch! If you are lucky, you may not have over reved the engine. If you are unlucky, you are looking at a rebuild of the valvetrain, or worst case scenario, it's an MGB and the pushrods just went into low orbit!
Now that you know how to drive a manual, you can stop whining about how hard it is to drive in Live For Speed!
Feel free to bring your expert advice, and I will update the guide.
THEORY (READ THIS, IT'S IMPORTANT)
In a manual car, the engine transmits power to the gearbox (or transmission or "tranny" as you fellow southerners say) through a spinning disc assembly called the clutch. It has several parts: Flywheel (on the engine), clutch plate (the important part), the pressure plate (which pushes the clutch onto the flywheel), the diaphragm spring (which is what is pushing the pressure plate) and the release system (what disengages the clutch when you press the pedal). The whole point behind the clutch is to disengage the engine from the gearbox so you can stop the car or change gears without stalling the engine or destroying the gears in the gearbox, and also to get moving from a stand still!
The clutch operates on friction. Slippage causes friction, friction causes heat, heat causes more slippage, and slippage causes more wear! The clutch material on road cars is often an organic woven heavy fiber from the factory, or what I call an area rug cut in a disc. It will slip easily and progressively, but doesn't like to be pushed hard due to low tolerances to heat. In fact, three or four drag launches in a Lamborhini Murcielago and the factory clutch is done. Therefore, not slipping the clutch any more than necessary, and not pushing more power than it can handle, is the key to keeping it alive!
GETTING STARTED
While this guide is written to get you driving a manual In Real Life, it is imperative you know this to play Live For Speed! For this guide, I will assume you have a Logitech G25 wheel or equivalent homemade 3-pedal and H-shifter setup.
You're in the driver's seat, but before you do anything, LOOK at the top of the shifter. It may look like this on most cars:
1 3 5
| | |
-----
| | |
2 4 R
Obviously, these are the gears. First gear is THE gear you use to get moving from a stop. Go ahead, engage the handbrake, push the clutch (the far LEFT pedal) and run the shifter through the gears in sequence, 1-2-3-4-5, 5-4-3-2-1, and so. ALWAYS push and hold the clutch to change gears! For Reverse, you have to either push a button, or pull a ring that is under the knob. For some cars, especially Honda, reverse has no synchro, so if it won't go into Reverse at first, try another gear then go the Reverse. You also have to be standing absolutely still (not moving forward or backward) to get Reverse in. Return the gearshift to Neutral (the ------- part).
First, you have to start the engine. But alas, turning the ignition does not start the car! In most cars, you have to push the clutch all the way down to allow the engine to start!
Start the car, and wiggle the shifter left and right. If it doesn't move, it's in gear. Move it back to center (Neutral) BEFORE letting off the clutch!
GET MOVING
If you have to back out of the driveway, tough luck. It's actually easire to release the clutch backing out. If you don't have to back out, skip this paragraph. So, put the car in gear R (if no synchro or you hear a horrible grinding when you try to go gear R, choose gear 5 THEN gear R), and slowly back off on the cutch. When you feel the car starting to move, stop rolling out the clutch until you feel it "hook", then release it the rest of the way. If you did it right, the engine should bog a little but you are going backward. If you did it too fast, the engine will stall. Don't feel embarrased. Restart the car and try again. Once you are backed out, put your LEFT foot on the clutch and your RIGHT foot on the brake. ALWAYS the RIGHT foot on the BRAKE! Shift into N and prepare for the next step.
Push in the clutch, and select gear 1. It should go in with little effort. If it doesn't, select another gear, then select gear 1. You pull the shifter to the left and up. Now, start letting go of the clutch, SLOWLY. You should feel a little "catch" as the clutch grabs the engine. The RPM should drop a little under idle. Stop rolling out the clutch until it "grabs", then let go of the clutch. If you did it right, the car should be moving at 5 MPH (or so) and the engine is at idle. If you released too quickly, the engine will either stall, or anti-stall will cause the car to shoot forward. It will also do a lot of "bucking". In any case, put your LEFT foot on the clutch and your RIGHT foot on the brake. ALWAYS the RIGHT foot on the BRAKE! Shift into N. Repeat this paragraph a few times, until you can feel where the clutch grabs, and how powerful (or weak) the clutch is.
Now you are ready to get moving. Push clutch, select gear 1, rev the engine up (little touch on the throttle) and roll out the clutch more quickly this time. If you did it right, you should be moving forward at a more normal pace. If you did it wrong, the car will either stall, or it will be "bucking", or it will take you more than 2 seconds to roll out the clutch. To prevent the wrong, you need to either add more throttle or roll out the clutch faster. When you are not using the clutch, ALWAYS put your LEFT foot on the floor to the LEFT of the clutch!
Accelerate lightly until the engine RPM reaches about 2000. Take your foot off the gas, push the clutch quickly, select gear 2 (straight down from gear 1). and when the RPM reaches about 1000, quickly release the clutch. If you did it right, you should be sailing smooth at about 10 MPH. If you did it wrong, one of the following happens: (1) Won't come out of gear 1. (2) Horrible grinding sound going into gear 2. (3) Car made a clunk or bang or thunka thunka thunka sound. (4) Car is bucking. For 1, you need to push the clutch BEFORE pulling out of gear. For 2, you need to stay on the clutch to the floor while you hit gear 2. Also, never force it into gear. For 3 and 4, you released the clutch at the wrong time, or it may be an odd gear ratio from 1 to 2. Now, shift down (straight up from gear 2) into gear 1, but this time, push the gas BEFORE releasing the clutch, bringing the engine RPM back into 2000. If you did it right, the car should be decelerating from 2000 RPM in gear 1. If you did it wrong, refer to the above. Repeat this until you can smoothly change up and down. Do this with all the gears, taking note of the speed you are moving in each gear at 1000 and 2000 RPM.
ACCELERATING
One thing you have to be mindful of is your RPM when accelerating. In gasolline (or equivalent) powered engines, you can NOT accelerate with the engine under 2000 RPM. This is because that amount of gasoline under power burns too quickly for the speed of the pistons moving, which is made evident by a loud rattling or similar loud abnormal engine noise. This is called lugging the engine, and is potentially damaging. Gasoline engines typically don't make sufficient power until at least 3000 RPM, so make sure you down a gear or two from gear 5 when you want to pass someone that is driving that slow.
COMING TO A STOP
To slow down, hit the brake, obviously, but don't stay in gear if it goes down to idle RPM. Push the clutch, select Neutral, and keep braking until you stop. If you aren't stopping, select the gear that's appropriate for your speed, rev the engine to the appropriate RPM, and then release the clutch.
GRANNY SHIFTING
Now that you understand how the clutch works, it's time to get moving quickly without harming your car.
First, you need to find the max in the lower gears. For this, you need a highway, where it is permissible to drive faster than 70 MPH. It would be good to have someone ELSE show you this part, so as not to damage the car.
Make sure the car is warmed up (5 miutes of the temp gague at the normal mark), free of any mechanical problems, and get ready to rock!
From a stand still, get moving in gear 1, but when you are off the clutch, give it the beans (foot to the firewall, pedal to the medal, balls to the walls, etc.) to the redline or the upshift light! Off the gas, On the clutch, take note of your SPEED, go to gear 2, and release the clutch. Note the RPM it stopped at! Give it the beans into gear 2, at the redline (or upshift light point), gas off, clutch on, go to gear 3 (middle and up), note the SPEED, release clutch, note RPM. Max power through gear 3, gas off, clutch on, note speed, and go to gear 4 (straight down) and note RPM. If you have gear 5, off gas again, push clutch and go to gear 5 (right and up). Note RPM. Now that you know the RPM and the speed @ RPM, this is where you are going to match the RPMs.
When upshifting, wait until the RPM goes down to the spot where it should be (a little bit above actually) for the gear you are about to engage, QUICKLY release the clutch, THEN mash down the accelerator. This method saves the cutch from wear, because it doesn't have to synchronize the engine, and it saves the drivetrain from the sudden "jolting" that occurs when the RPM is not matched and you quickly release the clutch. The disadvantage being that it takes a REALLY LONG TIME to change gears this way! This will also take time to master, but is essential to know in daily driving. Do take the time to learn how to match the RPM at different rates of acceleration, because you won't always be driving like a bat out of hell.
WARNING! THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS WILL PUT EXTRA WEAR AND TEAR ON YOUR CAR AND POSSIBLY BREAK THINGS! BY READING THE FOLLOWING YOU AGREE TO NOT SUE ME FOR DAMAGES DONE TO YOUR CAR(S) OR PERSON(S) BY FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS!
ClutchSaver™ SPEED SHIFTING
While this isn't really speed shifing, it is much faster than granny shifting and won't wear the clutch as quickly as speed shifting.
To do this, accelerate, and when it comes time to shift, change up to the next gear, and immediately after selecting the next gear roll out the clutch QUICKLY! At the moment the RPM matches, mash the gas! This will wear the clutch more, especially if you release the clutch too slowly, so the key here is to be quick off the clutch without "banging" into gear.
SPEED SHIFTING
Accelerate, and at shift time, pull the car out of gear the very moment you get off the gas pedal. Time it right and you should be able to gently touch the shifter to get it out of gear before hitting the clutch! Do not force the gear out! Make sure the clutch is down, and shift into the next gear as fast as you can, and just after it's in the next gear release the clutch QUICKLY!!! and at the exact same time punch the throttle! If you do it right the car will go into the next gear without any jerkiness, AND you will have taken only half a second to shift! If you release too slowly, you WILL roast your clutch! If you screw up the gear change, you will break the mesh ring that engages the gear, evident by that horrible grinding noise followed by the car being in gear but acting like it's in Neutral
POWER SHIFTING
This is a destructive habit! This is where clutches go to BURN! This is where newbies cry for mommy after three laps!
All you have to do is never lift off the throttle while shifting! When you release the cutch, possibly by sidestepping, the engine will be at the rev limiter! While it will give you that extra edge on acceleration, it is extremely damaging to the clutch and drivetrain, and if tthe clutch doesn't distintegrate from the heat (and cutches DO distintegrate into powder in some cases) it will wear out very quickly!
SIDESTEPPING THE CLUTCH
This is related to speed shifting. If you can't seem to release the clutch fast enough, there is another way. Instead of taking your foot off the normal way, slide it left off the pedal. This will make the clutch pedal fly back and cause the clutch to engage almost intantly! HOWEVER, this will only work without possibly harming your drivetrain from the sudden jolt if the RPM is matched exactly beforehand OR you have the throttle wide open.
DRAG LAUNCHING
This takes practice, and money. You will probably burn a clutch or two or three getting this right. The idea here is to rev the engine to a high RPM (depending on the car) and quickly release the clutch while hammering the throttle. You have to release quick enough to not burn the clutch, but slow enough that you don't spin the tires too much or stall. A fraction of a second here makes the difference between a successful start and a $1500 repair bill.
HEEL-TOE
This is an important skill to learn. If you are braking, and you need to be in a lower gear right off the brakes, you can try the heel-toe. To do this, make sure the toe of your foot is on the brake when braking, hit clutch, change gear, and rotate your foot so you can touch the throttle with your heel. Do this to match the engine RPM, then release the clutch. If done right, you should not have any jerky at all and be in the gear you need. It takes practice to heel-toe without pushing harder or softer on the brake pedal.
OOPS! WRONG GEAR!
This happens to the best of us. You punch it to gear 1, gear 2, gear 1 OH @#%*!
The FIRST thing you do when you choose the wrong gear and don't know it's a lower gear until you let off the clutch is PUSH THE CLUTCH IN! Do not think about it, just hit the clutch! If you are lucky, you may not have over reved the engine. If you are unlucky, you are looking at a rebuild of the valvetrain, or worst case scenario, it's an MGB and the pushrods just went into low orbit!
Now that you know how to drive a manual, you can stop whining about how hard it is to drive in Live For Speed!
