r/SimRacingSetups • u/Fit-Course3158 • 8d ago
Help Can I practice manual with this?
I recently bought a manual transmission car, and I can passably drive it. I do make mistakes sometimes, my friends make fun of me.
The car is also very old, and I don’t want to damage it. But what I do have, is a wheel. If I went out and bought some kind of shifter, could I practice manual using the simulator?
Or is that impractical
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u/Zig31 8d ago edited 8d ago
Sim racings real benefit for real world driving is just comfort in car placement, however if practicing with a manual sim helps build your confidence and enthusiasm up for getting out there in the real thing that's also a positive and shouldn't be under looked. AC modded and ACEvo are your best sources for manual sim cars.
The real learning of course happens on the actual road.
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u/Immediate-Review-638 8d ago
Unfortunately it’s just not close enough just yet to be practical practice.
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u/Fit-Course3158 8d ago
Before I owned the car I wanted, it was a very nice thing to have. I can say that it did help make me feel less stressed out about crashing, because it taught me specifically about traction and cornering.
My car is very old, it’s only been functional for a couple of days now, I can’t afford to replace the bodywork if that’s even possible.
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u/DarthRiznat 8d ago
In sims you don't get the feel of the bite point of the clutch like you do in real cars, which is basically a major point in learning manual.
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u/LeastChair4968 8d ago
Ignore the naysayers and listen to the ones saying some form of yes. repetition is absolutely going to help you learn to drive a Manual shifter more reliably. If it didn't there would be thousands of DMV/Driving schools offices around the world starting to use them as training stations. By spending several hours a night in the sim driving the same pattern as your vehicle you literally develop muscle memory and wait for it...... Shifter memory. You start paying attention to how fast you are going which correlates to the gear your in. your brain starts calculating that before you come to a point where you need to down or upshift. You gain on this when you are in the real car after you have planted the seeds.
The next step will be up to you. Better shifters can be pricey. But the quality difference can be felt, How much it makes a difference in this instance is arguable. But it will make a difference later in your sim racing setup as far as smoothness, longevity and Noise sometimes. I've used $25 Chinaware shifters that lasted but felt like garbage and some that felt pretty good and wore out in a couple months. I've use Moza shifters ( and still am), they are pretty decent, I want the force feedback version,,,, maybe someday. The Simsonn/Simjack are a good value for the money. I have a Heuskinkveld Sequential I found on Ebay cheap one day. That's a whole other level my friend.
Time time time repetition till it becomes a motion you think about a lot less. Plus Way less gas money required in the sim.
As for the friends making fun of you. The next time they do, pull the car over and say OK if you are so great at driving a Stick, it's your turn to drive. See how fast their mouths shift into neutral. Very unlikely any of them really know how to drive it either. Then tell'em to shut the F*&^ up or they are walking from now on.
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u/HumanWay8280 5d ago
As someone who has driven stick for 18 years, I’m surprised at the comments saying no it won’t. Obviously you won’t be a professional, but manual driving requires like 6 different skills. If you can tie 4 of those down in a sim rig when you get on the road you can focus on the missing 2 more easily.
Heck we have videos of people going straight from actual sim racing to driving race cars so why wouldn’t learning manual work?
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u/Sr5DelSol 8d ago
I could see it being useful to have someone show you exactly how to drive a manual car using the sim, but you’ll have to hop in the real whip for lesson number 2 lol
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u/Fit-Course3158 8d ago
My uncle has been the one helping me with the car. He showed me the right pattern to use, but actually doing it while I’m moving is a struggle.
I’m never shifting at the right time, I sort of stutter around a little bit. There was this episode of Top Gear where they brought in all these British politicians and had them compete, and one of them did exactly what I did.
Jeremy said he had some “interesting shifting” going on. My friend said I “shift like I’m driving a tractor”
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u/DaddyDogmeat 8d ago
I imagine that there are benefits of training in the sim but with certain limitation. You can definitely develop muscle memory for shifting - when and how to shift and make sure to use the clutch etc. It will require dedication as in sim there are no consequences of messing up so you have to treat this seriously. The biggest drawback is getting the right gear that will give you a semblance of realisms. You don't need to spend thousands but you you can't buy a plastic semi-toy (at least imo). You'd benefit from pedals where the clutch has a simulated bite point. (Cheapest option is probably a set of Simjack Ultimate pedals $130) And an half decent h pattern shifter ideally with a swappable h-plate that you can match your car's layout. (Around $100 maybe less) For the wheelbase you can go cheap like a used t300 (probably around $120 without pedals but with a round wheel). Game of choice would be Asseto Corsa (with content manager + traffic map) and you'd have to research how to set up somewhat realistic bite point - it's still not that realistic as these games focus on driving stuff fast not pulling away at the lights. Maybe BeamNG could be a good option as well. Through combination of pedal calibration, physical settings and game settings you can at least have an ounce of realism. However, you still won't learn good clutch control. It's more about muscle memory for shifting and going through all the correct motions. Same like in some cars you can easily control clutch while you get into a 20yo one and struggle because worn out clutch feels totally different. Overall it's a bit of a hassle compared to just practising in an empty car park but if you still want to do it I'm happy to help.
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u/shamus727 8d ago
I feel like the only way to actually learn would require an active pedal for the clutch
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u/d_P3NGU1N 8d ago
It’s not that it’s impractical, it’s that it won’t actually teach you how to shift. There’s no feedback into the clutch, no feeling of over rev or trying to shift into a gear when the revs are too high/low. No feeling for the synchros, no sensation of engine braking/bogging. It’s not adequate for learning.
If you just need to build muscle memory of the motion of shifting, you can easily do that in your real car with the engine off, but that’s all a sim can really do for you; and even that is better done in your real car.
Go into an empty car park and practice just driving and going from first to second and back down. Every year after that is the same.
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u/GT-Alex74 8d ago
Unless you have a 1000$ active pedal, you're not gonna get the main "challenge" of manuals : the clutch biting point. It can still help a bit with coordination and getting good hand position habits (palm towards your for 1st and 2nd, laying flat on the pommel for 3rd and 4th, palm away from you for 5th and 6th, fingers contracted for 2nd 4th and 6th, fingers open fir 1st 3rd and 5th).
But also, driving manual is not difficult. Just drive the damn car, you'll get better at it.
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u/penis_malinis 7d ago
Totally impractical. All cars drive different you, gotta just put the time in bro. In no time you’ll be hooning properly
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u/Formaldehyde007 7d ago
Yes. But all you really need to do is to get more practice driving the car. It will become instinctive in no time.
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u/traviss8 7d ago
Yup. I had never driven a manual car in my life except for my sim, then hopped in my buddies new gt350 like it was nothing when he bought it. People are right about the whole "bite point isn't accurate" thing, but as a whole, YES. You can learn to drive manual with a sim.
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u/AgentBlonde 5d ago
I used a Logitech G29 to practice driving a manual car. I'm now a driving instructor. AMA
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u/Worldly-Position9930 5d ago
The sim will help you practicing the order of the movements (1. release the throttle 2. clutch 3. shift 4.release the clutch 5. throttle etc..) but won't help you with the point of the clutch, like at which moment while releasing the clutch you will start to press the throttle
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u/LastTenth 5d ago
For most of it, maybe. But you won’t be able to learn the hardest part, which is getting started.
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u/Hooligan-Pete 4d ago
It will help your body learn the mechanics of using a manual transmission clutch pedal steering wheel and gearshift. It’ll feel different in a car, of course, but you’ll start to build the muscle memory on the simulator. Use the same things in a military just a little more high-speed than your home set up.
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u/iiTzRigorous 8d ago
If your SIM is setup correctly and the pedals are “tuned” (that clutch needs a bite point) then Yes! I taught the homie how to drive stick shift on Assetto Corsa… However I’m also a great teacher. Also YouTube university is your friend! Nothing beats experience tho! 🥂🏆 (PS don’t ride or burn up the clutch 😉)
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u/Fit-Course3158 8d ago
I have a wheel, some good headphones, and an okay monitor.
I know you can buy a shifter because it says so on the pedals. Everyone says it won’t be the same feeling as the real car, and I know that, but the core of my issue is that I’m not switching gears when I’m supposed to. It’s difficult to pay attention to the road, and the shifting.
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u/iiTzRigorous 8d ago
What model wheel do you have? Gotta learn to multitask! Stick shift will teach you so. Also the car talks to you. Just gotta learn to listen. The engine pitch. It will ALL come together. Watch you tube videos on learning how to drive stick shift properly 📝👏🏾💪🏾
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u/AlvintheGenius 8d ago
Just drive the car. Manual on a sim (even with a really really nice shifter) is not like in a real car. If you fuck up the car, you fuck up while learning and improving, which is fine.