by Warren » Mar 27, 2002 @ 2:22am
Moose, here's some advice. First, push down the clutch and put it in 1st, then slowly move it until you start the feel it engage (you'll know, the steering wheel, petals, and stuff vibrate, and you can here it, and you just know). Then the hard part. You have to lift off the clutch SLOWLY, while pushing down the gas, I call this "paddling". You just have to learn, the more the clutch comes up, the more gas, and sometimes you want little clutch with a lot of gas for speed bumps and stuff. Sometimes (this is really only on European cars), you don't even need to press the gas, but on Japanese and American cars, the clutch engages right at the last second on the clutch. I still have a few inches for mine, so it's easier and smoother. Remember (and I am still working on this), for 1st - 2nd, take your time on the clutch. I keep lifting off the clutch too quickly and it's not smooth. 3rd-4th is easiest, I can do that perfectly smooth. After you get the hang of into 1st, it'll help to do it on a steep hill (there's gotta be 1 in Florida...). If you can master starting off on a hill without rolling back, you can master anything. That's what I did, and I can start off quite well after only 3 actual days of driving. Practise R too. And downshifting is important, especially in a Japanese car, because they can't handle looow RPMs. In my car, which is 115hp, I can start from a stop, go right into 5th gear, and start off without bunking or stalling the engine at all. It goes down to about 500-600 rpms, but doesn't stall. My car idles at 800, and I shift at 2300; red line is 6800. Some tips is to practise in a large parking lot first, so you can put all your concentration into the petals and not have to worry about the road. At first, I stalled quite a few times, but now, I can do it pretty easily. I love it, and make fun of automatic people everyday. Sport shift (or really called tiptronic) is ok, but I'd only get it if my left leg fell off. I'd only get an automatic if my left leg fell off and my right arm fell off. But then I'd get a British car so that the stick would be on the left, so then the ONLY way I'd get an automatic is if I ONLY have my right leg.
Refractor, you got me too, lol.
As for that game, that's very unrealistic. If I can go from a stop into 5th gear without lugging, there's no way you can stall while going. I mean, I come to near stops in 4th gear with no problem. I've beaten that game in the past a few times, but lately, I haven't beaten it, and it keeps stalling on 4th. Makes no sense, for acceleration, it's not always the best to red line, because max power is usually around 2500-3500.
If you need anything else, just ask.
I'm in love :)
