The problem is trying not to wreck your clutch and transmission while learning to do it properly. It feels like you are going to destroy your car with the amount practice it takes to get it right.
One of the hardest things about heel-toe (at least on the street) is keeping consistent brake pressure. When cruising up to a stop on the street you are usually not too deep into the brake, so when you go to swivel your foot over to blip the throttle it can be hard not to jab the brake at first. So for me when first learning (out on some back roads) was to get deeper into the brakes when blipping the throttle, as it makes it easier to keep a more consistent pressure on the brake. It also made it easier to actually hit the throttle with the side of my foot when deeper into the brakes. I also got into the habit when I was at a stop light was to just sit their practicing my throttle blips (like Mr. Goose showed at the beginning of the video). Just maybe don't do that if you are behind people as they may think you are a bit of an asshole revving your engine lol. After about a month of actively practicing it starts to become instinct to heel-toe. That said, even after years of doing it I still don't nail it every time. The fact I can still improve after 15+ years of driving manual is what makes all this stuff so rewarding (even in my slow ass Mazda3).
Even harder to not keep brake pressure consistent but vary it at will during the process. ... That's where the fun really starts. 🙂 It is fun to git gud, and that's why I also heel&toe into 1st.
You said that perfectly. That's my problem. I can't do it when going slowly because these big brakes stop so abruptly. I can't even get my foot over to the throttle. So I try when going faster, but the opportunities are brief, and I screw it up. Goofy foot placement or something. So , as it's explained in the video, I need to get to an open area. A safe place, specifically to practice. Thank you!
Recently taught myself. Here are my tips to add: consistent brake pressure is the hardest part. Practicing this while parked isn’t enough feedback on the brake pressure IMO. When coming to stops on the road I would put it in neutral and practice the footwork without actually shifting gears while I decelerate. Really helped get the feel down. For actual shifts, practicing at freeway speeds was the best for me. Top gear down to the next is the most forgiving. Brake pressure more forgiving when faster also. Get an idea of your gear ratios. 3rd to 2nd is a bigger change so takes much more throttle than 6 to 5 in my car. Another tip that helped me: we tend to be too slow and cautious letting the clutch pedal out. Get used to being more aggressive with the left foot. I also improved greatly when I didn’t try to do it all at once like people already good at it do . I started being very deliberate and focusing one step at a time. Helped a ton. Clutch in while braking, Rotate foot , carefully press throttle with heel while focusing on constant brake pressure , then shift the gear, then clutch out. I would be so deliberate that sometimes I would have to blip it twice because the revs fell too far while shifting. That’s fine. This deliberate practice helped with feel till I got faster and faster. Then tried taking a few corners aggressively to force myself to do it faster. Worked. This is the best vid I’ve seen on the topic by far. If you ever downshift to 1st make sure to double clutch I know my car doesn’t have a synchro to 1st. Some cars have aftermarket pedal adapters to change position to facilitate heel toe. Helped immensely in my car.
Yes, initially I'd actually say the sequence out loud to force me to focus : 1) Brake, 2) Clutch, 3) Blip, 4) Gear, 5) Clutch. The four foot moves are essentially...right...left...right...left...
Don't beat yourself up about it...Over assisted modern brakes don't help. I struggle in my wife's Audi A3 but find my Cayman brake pedal feel like night and day and heel/toe is ten times easier.
What I found helpful and also what I teach people who want to learn how to heel-toe is to first practice braking with your heel off the floor of the car. It really changes the braking process and feel without the leverage of your heel on the floor. After that it's easier to incorporate the rotation of the foot onto the throttle. Hopefully some people find this helpful.
No point adding my experience, I think Mark covered most of it... All I can add is that when you nail that first ever perfectly smooth heel and toe... Man you're hooked for life ..
One other thing that isn't mentioned much that helped me, is to condition yourself to being used to braking with your foot in the air. I was so used to braking with my heel firmly planted in the floorboard, but braking with your heel in the air might take some getting used to, in order to get the brake pressure you thought you wanted. This will help later when you need to blip the throttle.
Savage Geese went thorough for the most part. I would like to add this too. In order to catch the revs on time, sequence it like this. First put in gear then blip and let go of the clutch. Blip should happen right before clutch is released. I made a mistake of bliping and pulling the stick at the same time when I started practicing. Most of the time it was jerky and I got successful every now and then. Then I started experimenting and found the sequence I mentioned to be way more accurate and consistent. When you get really used to it it will look from the eyes of anyone one other than the driver that everything happens at the same time. That is why many footcam videos gives the wrong impression of doing all at once and actually tends to create that intimidation. Throttle response and gear throws also plays an important role in determining how fast you can downshift.
I think just even doing it consistently makes a big difference (doing it well should come with time). I learned to drive stick on a 2004 WRX and the car was still on the stock clutch (and transmission) when I sold it 12 years later with 200K miles on the clock.
Excellent video! My only tip is that it will probably be easier to learn, and more noticeable when you do it wrong, if you learn in a car with a cable operated throttle. I pretty much revmatch downshift and heel toe all the time during daily driving. The exception is when I am feeling lazy or tired, or I don't want to confuse a passenger. It makes driving more fun and engaging, and it feels really rewarding when you nail it. Only way to become proficient is practice! That Atom looks like a total blast.
I'd say he explained it pretty well. Something I would've touched on, and will be particularly helpful to a younger audience (pre-legal driving age), is using certain games/simulators. For the most part I learned the concept and rhythm of heel-toe downshifting while playing "Live for Speed" with some Logitech G25 pedals almost twenty years ago. The foot rhythm is way overwhelming at first but with time and practice, it becomes second nature. Then when I got my license and a real car and started trying it, it was again very overwhelming at first because obviously the feeling, weight, speed, shoes, car etc are all specific but I was able to get it down much quicker since I already had the general muscle memory. I'll also say I find it much easier to do in race driving conditions: You usually don't brake nearly as hard on the street, even during spirited driving, compared to an event on a race track, and when you brake harder, it brings the pedal lower which then makes it easier to reach the throttle pedal. I actually modified the throttle pedal on my one Mustang to raise it higher i.e. more in-line with the brake pedal. One last part I might've mentioned was how fast you let out the clutch. If you nail the rev match perfectly (not often), you should be able to let the clutch out immediately, but if you are even off by a couple hundred RPM, you still want to feather the clutch out a little. The closer you are to the correct RPM match, the faster you can let it out. What you'll see people do, and I still do when learning a car or just in the heat of hard driving, is rev out and get the RPM a bit off, but still let the clutch out without feathering, it'll lock up the rear wheels (assuming it's RWD) for a moment and can cause a spin on entry. As he said, all sounds crazy complex but it becomes second nature and you don't really think about it during the act. Left foot braking still feels completely weird and unnatural, but I recently started doing it in racing sims on sequential gearbox race cars and started getting more comfortable with it. Still wouldn't do it in a real car lol Even just taping the brake pedal mid-corner or down a straight to set the pads feels so wrong.
Really good overview. One comment I have for beginners is to remember that the harder you are braking the farther down the brake pedal will be (obviously). So if you practice to get throttle positions right under relatively light braking, you may find yourself bouncing off the rev limiter the first time you try to throw the car into a corner and really get on the brakes.
I know I’m very late, but I thought it might help someone who’s learning this to mention that your upper gears are always closer together than lower gears are. So it could help you to start trying this downshifting from say 4th gear to 3rd gear. That way if you mess it up it won’t be this huge buck from 3rd to 2nd. Also a lot of the time this happens around the mid rev range when you’re driving on the street, where the engine isn’t as responsive as up top. Something I had to learn was that when you’re at lower revs it can often take more throttle than you think to get a smooth downshift, but that depends entirely on the car and the spacing of the gears. Also I think (away from other drivers) it can help in the initial stages to drive along at maybe 30-40 miles an hour and then brake and put the car in neutral, and just blip the throttle a few times as if you were downshifting. When you do that, you’ll quickly notice if you’re applying even brake pressure or not, and it can help you figure out the best way for you to do it while keeping the brakes consistent. It’s called heel & toe but it can really be the left & right side of your foot or the edge of your shoe or whatever, the only goal is to find a way to use both the brake and throttle with one foot and everyone can do it slightly differently.
I started practicing H&T while I was still taking my driving lessons. Not to mention, my learning process featured a couple of scary jerky braking ! Thank you for sharing with all enthusiast drivers.
If you're stuck with only one car to try this on and it doesn't feel like the pedal placement is right for you 1) Try different shoes 2) Try moving your foot offcenter of the brake pedal 3) Try doing some ankle mobility exercises and stretch those muscles involved in this motion 4) Try investing in a pedal spacer made in the aftermarket for your car
Thank you Mr. Goose, this is by far the best video on this topic that I have ever watched. I'm looking forward to rewatching this and practicing in my own car. I'll never be able to match the way Senna drives in the NSX video, but I would like to get comfortable in doing this.
This video may be the push I need to find somewhere quiet to practice this. I can rev-match pretty nearly perfect in my car without the brakes. This is definitely what I'm going to learn next. Thanks Mark.
I rev match downshift on commuting trying to stay off brakes. Rev matching w brakes when traffic permits. Tailgaters, and no rev matching, due to slowing without brake light. Great video Mr Goose. It is like rolling a kayak. Muscle Memory.
I've been driving a manual transmission for 30 years and I don't think I've really tried to heel toe all that much or at least never put in the practice. Thanks for the tips on working up through the process.
I'm very glad that my driving instructor taught me this; then told me to practice AFTER I passed my test. Done it in every fast, slow, good and bad car I've ever owned. Habit now.
I really like the step by step approach (get used to throttle blip first, then rev match, etc.), really helps break it down. definitely going to practice it. thanks!
yeah right- if you under rev it and go a little slow on release you still get away with it. i mean it's not that cool then but if you figured out how man revs a blip gives you you can start there to get close to a perfect one :D
God I can't wait to have a stick shift again. I could only ever pull off heel toes off in my E21 BMW. Never got them down in my miata and stopped trying in my WRX. Next car will be the start again. Love these new driving videos man. I hope the viewership picks up to match your effort!
This is the best demo of this technique I've seen. What about double-clutching on downshifts. I do that because it helps on my cars. Now I need to combine this technique with my double-clutching....
I drove stick for many years and never even knew about this until recently. I took a break from manual cars back into automatic cars for 8 years, now going back watching reviews on cars i was interested in to respike that car hobby, i kept seeing everyone mention its good or bad for heel toe xyz car. I couldnt figure out what the hell it even was.. but now going back to purchasing a stick car soon and seeing this mentioned im definitely gunna have to give this some practice when i purchase soon. This is a super helpful video and makes alot of sense seeing visuals, and all the comments, thanks!
I saw a video of a Porsche driving instructor on this topic. The way he did it is to jam all the pedals in at the same time (the clutch pedal, the brake pedal and the gas pedal). Then he releases all those pedals as quick as he jammed them in ... before getting back on the gas again. It looks like he is trying to push his butt up against his seat with both feet. It was a sight to see and it does work wonderfully.
I naturally learned how to heal toe downshift myself. As with driving a standard transmission vehicle, you can watch all the tutorial videos available online but it really comes down to driving one yourself daily, and learning comfortability and muscle memory. The best way to describe it is it comes to you naturally. It becomes a second nature to you kinda like riding a bicycle, or learning how to drive a manual in general. The more you drive one - the more natural it becomes and the more fluid you become handling it. I literally learned heel toe by feeling. I hadn't even heard what it meant back when I had my first manual car, I just realized it was way easier to blip the throttle going around a corner to accelerate out then it was to just rev match downshift normally. So just go out and drive. Buy manual cars when they're available! Pretty soon lazy drivers are gonna completely make manuals go the way of the Dodo.
Love your show mr goose. Just want to share my way of rev matching is to double clutch on down shift and blip throttle in neutral while applying very gentle pressure on the shifter at the next gate I’m trying to select. When enough revs are reached the shifter will give a tactile feed back at which point I depress the clutch and slip it in. It works all the time in every manual transmission car with no need to practice muscle memory You might think it’s takes more time to double clutch, and you would be right but generally you have plenty of time to get the car in the correct gear before the apex of corner. Also the amount of throttle application needed for a smooth re match is less the you would need for a single clutch rev match. More than one way to do it both are valid options
Only tips I can give is not to give up. It took years of doing it everyday to get good at it... But its so worth it. When you do a downshift and nail the perfect heel and toe its literally tje most gratifying feeling in the world. Plus you can basically hop off the clutch and the car engages the next gear so fast and smooth you dont even feel the downshift! With a V8 engine the roar it makes is literally the most visceral and amazing feel and sound ever.
Awesome step by step instructions. I've been rev matching on my downshifts my whole life. Just timing and leaving space in front of me for braking. I've learned to have a fast foot. But, I need to master this heel-toe method now, so I don't have to interrupt consistent braking. A new challenge! Thanks for a great explanation.
i'm trying to learn heel/toe, this will help - best video i've seen. but i've been driving manuals for 30 years, never even heard of heel/toe until a few years ago. i take turns by just coasting around about 2/3 of it with the clutch in, then rev match coming out of the turn. to be fair, heel/toe is really a racing technique to allow making a turn as fast as possible. on public roads, not necessary. but i understand the fun aspect.
Great video! I'm glad somebody is out there teaching people how to drive. I think most people can't even drive their cars properly.... That's what causes a lot of accidents..
The timing of this video couldn't be more perfect for me. I've been driving stick for about a year, and I've recently gotten much more comfortable rev matching downshifts, so now this is my next thing to work on.
Exactly as stated in the video, before making the jump to heel-toe downshifting, you can practice simply rev-matching. Whenever you downshift, match your revs. With enough practice you'll be doing 5th to 2nd heel-toe downshifts when slowing for a tight corner, no problem.
I found out during my first (and only) track event that doing it under heavy braking is easier. On a track when you're ridiculously deep in the brakes, there's a lot more stability in the pedal so you don't have to be as precise with how hard you press it. Then again you're slowing down faster so everything else has to be quicker, but for me braking is the hardest part. On the street trying to heel toe while braking like a normal person has been near-impossible to do smoothly. There's so much give in the pedal because you're barely pressing it; if you screw it up just a little bit, it feels like you missed it by a mile. I've only driven stick for 28k miles but I made it a point to start learning to heel-toe immediately. It's still difficult after all those miles, but I get it mostly right most of the time and it's very satisfying.
I learned downshifting with rev matching on motorcycle fairly easy, maybe because of hand contols. Now trying to learn it on a car, and it is much more difficult for me. I guess hand - leg coordination. What I figured on motorcycle is that muscle memory is important, and after a while you don't even think what are you doing and it comes naturaly. Just keep working on it
I do it unconsciously every time I'm driving manual. It helps smooth the downshifts while braking before corner entry so the car doesnt jerk, possibly making one lose control. Practice, practice, practice. The higher the speed, the higher the rev match required.
Bit late to the party but I had the chance to practice heel and toe with a rental Elantra N for 2 weeks. Having the right shoes made a huge difference, I had no luck with Adidas boost series as the foam on the base would deform and make my foot slip off the accelerator. I found converse or shoes with thin rubber base were the best (Im size 13), I was able to consistently heel accelerator pedal with converse on. Stationary practice was good but just driving around an empty block and practice downshift 4-3-2 with proper feedback from having consistent brake pressure was the best way for me. Took me around 1hr of practice around empty streets to have the confidence to heel toe with normal driving, and 3hrs practice to be able to consistently make the heel tap every time. The hardest part was getting consistent brake pressure while reaching for the accelerator pedal without slipping off the brake. My ankle was very rigid which made it all extremely hard, but it is very doable with lots of practice. I've been driving manual for 8 years, for my previous cars I was able to hit brake and accelerator at the same time without lifting my foot off the floor, but this is not possible with my current car. Heel toe is not required for streeting driving as I can always brake, then shift, and rev match after braking, but if i want to take the car on track, being able to heel and toe is a must.
Mark, you're so handsome with your performance driving tutorials. Clearly you like performance driving and gathering all the knowledge you can on it. Only you can be the one to make good videos on it for other people. I'd strongly consider this type of video as an additive to your channel alongside your usual formula. Not just the fine-print series, but a tutorial series. You're in an awesome car and I know how "tryhard" you are with driving, so I'm gonna listen to you. I'm gonna listen to you *hard* Keep it up.
Takes some time to get it right but well worth the time invested. Don't get discouraged it can be difficult starting out. Another thing to keep in mind is adjusting or changing your pedal pox. Cars have different spacing from brake to gas. Starting out with pedals that are closer together I find easier.
I daily drive a manual, I didn't learn much new here, but I still enjoyed the video, more pls. Another video idea: sometimes multiple downshifts in quick succession aren't efficient because how fast you're decelerating or because you might want max acceleration NOW. Consider touching on skipping gears and how to match RPMs in these scenarios. 4th to 2nd, 6th to 3rd, etc.
Love the vid. My 2 cents on the safety aspect...I wouldn't practice coming up to a stop sign or light, at least not when you're first starting. If you mess up and panic you could end up blowing the light or sign and causing an accident. I know because I practiced in a long parking lot and there were times that I messed up and if I had messed up at a light or sign, I probably would have hit someone.
Great info. As a Hpde instructor don’t expect this trading at a weekend event. Do as he advises, do it everyday around town until it is a instinct before trying it at 150 with an instructor who quits for the weekend. Great video
Excellent demonstration of footwork that I couldn't really see in other rev-matching videos. This was hard for me in the beginning because of not having learned it before (well, i didn't even know what rev-matching was!), but like the instructor said, I practice it while driving in back roads in my town, driving my right hand-drive, 5-speed Maruti Swift (it's actually Suzuki). I have a long way to go but this is really fun and I hope this time around the clutch lasts longer. :) Dhanyawaad for that great driving lesson!
Awesome that the atom really let's me see how you utilize these techniques. Other videos of a cell phone jammed in between someone's legs to show the technique is difficult to understand. Thanks savage for the good video!
When I started learning how to drive a manual transmission car, I started also learning rev matching/heel-toe. Now I find it hard to downshift smoothly without rev matching, it feels alien. Thanks for making this vid for future manual drivers! Cheers Geeseman.
Kr Dz While I agree with that, most people won’t. And it isn’t necessary for normal driving, majority of drivers don’t even know what we do lol. I do it because I’m used to it and it feels abnormal not to. For performance driving and racing, obviously!
@@Junesba I do it all the time, every downshift = revmatch, all modern automatic gearboxes do a throttle bilp every time you downshift, no matter how you drive, because it's the only right way to downshift
My way of getting the hang of it was like Mark mentioned start with downshift rev matching to find the sweetspots of the gearing so i know how much i have to push the revs to get matching engine and transmission revs. I am lucky enough to live in an area where we have lots of towns so i practiced heel toe downshifts with brakes in a straight line before proceeding to corners. Needed maybe half a year to become decent enough for normal street driving. My passengers didn't even notice i was heel toeing. My 4 week old new car has rev matching and the pedals are a bit weird for me so i am using the feature for now until i get comfortable with the car. Old car was a 2010 Mustang GT, new car is a 2019 i30 Fastback N.
I would also say for beginners, practice having a light touch with the brakes and don't just dump the clutch. You can feather the clutch out if you rev too high and wait for your RPMs to drop a bit before letting up on the clutch and hooking back up. Most people mentally can't help but think of heel-toe as a racing technique, and because of that, oftentimes I feel like the folly of beginners is to over-drive with big/fast inputs, and that's a recipe for upsetting the car. You can be much more gentle than you think when practicing heel-toe, and the good news is, in my opinion at least, heel-toe downshifting is much easier to accomplish when you're hard into the brakes approaching a corner (please don't do this in any kind of potentially dangerous public situation though). Being deep into the brakes means you don't have to modulate the brake as much to maintain an even pedal pressure, and maintaining a light, even pressure at the top of the pedal is actually much harder to do. So if you practice at slower speeds with more gentle brake pressure, and you get a feel for when to let the clutch back up, you'll actually be much more advanced in terms of feel than people that only utilize this technique when they're mashing the brakes and dropping a couple gears. Good luck out there!
Great outline! For me, the operative term is "muscle memory" It took a ton of time & practice to become competent. Nothing to add, this is the best overview I've seen.
Great to see this really broken down. I feel like I'm getting rusty with this skill since changing cars. Position of the pedals on the Boxster make it very difficult to execute unless you're very deep into the brake pedal which isn't a common occurrence during even spirited "street" driving... Another reason an MX-5 or similar is a great learning tool on almost any road..
@@maxmartz4665 Probably a mix of things for me. Shoe size and being so used for various Miata's for years. Only picked up the Boxster about a month ago so still learning it. I used to be able to roll on with the edge of my foot on the MX-5's, the approach outlined in the video (ball on brake, heel to gas) seems better on the Boxster for "me" and I need more practice at it frankly. Video was a great reality check and I also had never even considered building muscle memory while at a stop which is brilliant. These videos deserve FAR more views. Out of curiosity, what are you running? 2010 Boxster S here.
@@jasonschronicles I learned on a Mustang GT Fox body. Updated to years of Pathfinder and Tacoma manuals with not easy braking heel to toe, but down shift rev matching. Still getting back the feel for braking heel to toe. I found video great too. My Boxster is 2019 S manual in GT Silver. Sport Auto rev match is good on a track days now, I am working to get it on my own.
I find some of the Porsche pedal boxes have a kink to the right and the 2 pedals don't match up unless you're 100% on the brakes threshold braking down from 120mph. You can try changing brake pads for a softer one that has some slop up top, or shoes, or a custom pedal box.
Thanks, Mark. Braking it up into manageable pieces like this was exactly how I learned to do it. Still working on the smoothness and consistency part though.
Great video as usual, covers it all. If you wanna learn just start practicing. I learned to heel and toe in my old Fiat Uno (1990). It was very hard the pedals were miles apart, no RPM gauge so all done by ear. It took me about a a couple of months to get okay on the road but another 5 years to get very good at it. Almost all other cars are so easy to rev match now. Also, most normal people will think you a bit weird when you heel and toe in your daily ;) It is worth learning this skill as on track and skidpan etc. I am very comfortable changing gears very smoothly I don't have to think about it at all...
When you're first learning to heel-toe, I'd try doing it barefoot. It nearly eliminates the pedal height issue because your foot can bend and pivot much more without a shoe. Obviously you then want to get used to doing it in shoes so you don't limit yourself but the level of feedback from driving barefoot is unparalleled. It's like driving with your bare hands after wearing gloves.
Best video I have seen on learning heel/toe. I’ve owned my Miata for two years and have just recently found the most comfortable and consistent foot position on the pedals.
Something that I recommend is to heel-and-toe with your heel on the floor, just moving the top of your foot across to the brake. This is because having your heel on the floor helps support your body and keep it in place under hard braking, which makes it easier to make precise and consistant inputs. This doesn't work in all cars though- it works best in cars with floor-mounted throttles, like in a BMW.
@@drtm1718 just use your small ball of your foot on the edge of the pedal to apply the brake smoother. And wrap your foot around to blip the throttle. Dont neccesarily have to use your whole heel and toe to rev match.
@@mojogustavo77 Thanks. I'll give it a try. I've rev matched every downshift as long as I can remember, but when braking aggressively all I can do is plant my heel on the floor and pivot my toe between the brake and the throttle, but it feels like I'm pumping the brakes because I'm removing pressure from the brake pedal completely to tap the throttle when I downshift.
@@drtm1718 keep it up on man im practicing too. When you get those crisp downshifts from 4-3-2 it's wicked. (I miss revmatching on my streetbike it's like ten fold easier lol)
My personal experience has been that older vehicles were much easier to heal and toe than my current golf r. Older cars had much more progressive brakes which made them more forgiving to oscillating foot pressure. Not to mention the very linear relationship a cable connected to a carburettor gives the driver. 50% is always 50%. There was no middle man computer. In my current golf I find I can only heel and toe smoothly during heavy braking. At sensible road speeds I stick to rev matching. After watching this video I think I will practice my light braking heel and toe some more!
Putting the savage in the savagegeese, that is some impressive driving man! I tried the whole process in traffic surrounded by other drivers a few times and it felt extremely dangerous so I gave up. Now I am re-inspired to try the steps and work it up!
If you don't need to get good at heel&toe in every car but only your own, a great assistance is wide pedal wideners, like these: g6.owledge.de/myg6/oldengine/chrom-pedale.jpg Especially if you don't like to wear wide shoes just for driving. Funny how that stuff is normally a cheap common style upgrade and almost no young car enthusiast buying those has ever heard of heel&toe. (But I think it is nonetheless meant to negate the super-safety design from the manufacturer that focuses on reducing risk of accidentally stepping on the wrong pedal.) Little anecdote: Those Foliatec pedals are mounted with screws and stuff and they need to get green light from an inspector. I got it, but later I had to saw the screws off because my shoelaces sometimes got caught behind a pedal. Very scary and risky, so a failure from the people who had one job. I have not been driving my own car in recent years, through, and in the boring cars I am driving now I am rarely tempted to do heel&toe, but just use engine brake. ... Wouldn't be fun, especially with electronics interfering with my inputs all the time. And that's an *IMPORTANT POINT:* You can only practice something properly if you confirmed that your car doesn't try to do it for you. This stuff sucks if you don't have input accuracy. 11:45 You never heel&toe into first? Don't even wanna show it? Oh come on, even I do it. More fun engine noise and a bit more of a challenge, and especially useful when on a slow approach to a traffic light that might turn green soon.
Drivers don't be discouraged, this takes a ton of practice!
And it feels so good when you get it right.
The problem is trying not to wreck your clutch and transmission while learning to do it properly. It feels like you are going to destroy your car with the amount practice it takes to get it right.
It’s impossible
@@willmalliotis1904 Not at all.
@@PaulCz-h20 that's why we have simulator
One of the hardest things about heel-toe (at least on the street) is keeping consistent brake pressure. When cruising up to a stop on the street you are usually not too deep into the brake, so when you go to swivel your foot over to blip the throttle it can be hard not to jab the brake at first. So for me when first learning (out on some back roads) was to get deeper into the brakes when blipping the throttle, as it makes it easier to keep a more consistent pressure on the brake. It also made it easier to actually hit the throttle with the side of my foot when deeper into the brakes.
I also got into the habit when I was at a stop light was to just sit their practicing my throttle blips (like Mr. Goose showed at the beginning of the video). Just maybe don't do that if you are behind people as they may think you are a bit of an asshole revving your engine lol.
After about a month of actively practicing it starts to become instinct to heel-toe. That said, even after years of doing it I still don't nail it every time. The fact I can still improve after 15+ years of driving manual is what makes all this stuff so rewarding (even in my slow ass Mazda3).
Even harder to not keep brake pressure consistent but vary it at will during the process. ... That's where the fun really starts. 🙂 It is fun to git gud, and that's why I also heel&toe into 1st.
Same. I've been utilizing heel-toe for around 15 years, and EVERY drive I feel like I'm slightly improving.
You said that perfectly. That's my problem. I can't do it when going slowly because these big brakes stop so abruptly. I can't even get my foot over to the throttle.
So I try when going faster, but the opportunities are brief, and I screw it up. Goofy foot placement or something.
So , as it's explained in the video, I need to get to an open area. A safe place, specifically to practice.
Thank you!
Recently taught myself. Here are my tips to add: consistent brake pressure is the hardest part. Practicing this while parked isn’t enough feedback on the brake pressure IMO. When coming to stops on the road I would put it in neutral and practice the footwork without actually shifting gears while I decelerate. Really helped get the feel down. For actual shifts, practicing at freeway speeds was the best for me. Top gear down to the next is the most forgiving. Brake pressure more forgiving when faster also. Get an idea of your gear ratios. 3rd to 2nd is a bigger change so takes much more throttle than 6 to 5 in my car. Another tip that helped me: we tend to be too slow and cautious letting the clutch pedal out. Get used to being more aggressive with the left foot. I also improved greatly when I didn’t try to do it all at once like people already good at it do . I started being very deliberate and focusing one step at a time. Helped a ton. Clutch in while braking, Rotate foot , carefully press throttle with heel while focusing on constant brake pressure , then shift the gear, then clutch out. I would be so deliberate that sometimes I would have to blip it twice because the revs fell too far while shifting. That’s fine. This deliberate practice helped with feel till I got faster and faster. Then tried taking a few corners aggressively to force myself to do it faster. Worked. This is the best vid I’ve seen on the topic by far. If you ever downshift to 1st make sure to double clutch I know my car doesn’t have a synchro to 1st. Some cars have aftermarket pedal adapters to change position to facilitate heel toe. Helped immensely in my car.
Yes, initially I'd actually say the sequence out loud to force me to focus : 1) Brake, 2) Clutch, 3) Blip, 4) Gear, 5) Clutch. The four foot moves are essentially...right...left...right...left...
This is fantastic, thank you!
Rev-matching is the easy part. Its maintaining smooth braking while rev-matching that's hard, at least for me...
amen!
Absolutely! I always seem to get on the brakes a little too hard.
Yeah bro, but man when u get it its so freaking worth it.
That's why I can easily do it in a simulator but not in real life. Reason being that in simulator there is no feel of inconsistent deceleration
Don't beat yourself up about it...Over assisted modern brakes don't help. I struggle in my wife's Audi A3 but find my Cayman brake pedal feel like night and day and heel/toe is ten times easier.
What I found helpful and also what I teach people who want to learn how to heel-toe is to first practice braking with your heel off the floor of the car. It really changes the braking process and feel without the leverage of your heel on the floor. After that it's easier to incorporate the rotation of the foot onto the throttle. Hopefully some people find this helpful.
Oooh, gotta try this
this is a great tip. i tried it the other day and it helped a lot.
Thanks. Going to practice on my fabulous CVT.
No point adding my experience, I think Mark covered most of it... All I can add is that when you nail that first ever perfectly smooth heel and toe... Man you're hooked for life ..
I watched the entire video. I also drive a Prius.
well... now that only thing to do is either A: Get a cheap miata to play with, B: hellcat/LS swap your Prius and use a 6speed.
Definitely with Hunter on this. Manual swap that prius.
* my girlfriend’s Prius. Me I have a 944t. Whee, every few days.
I have a prius C. I feel a bycicle can overtake me but you can't beat 60 mpg
Yes time for a Miata, or a Corvette.
damn this atom sounds sick
Yea, the turbo whooshing and exhaust are intoxicating.
@@danielmembrillo6472 Fo sho!
Omg yes! 😆
@@danielmembrillo6472 doesn’t the Ariel atom use a supercharged k20?
@@guenthersteiner8163 Depends on the kind of Atom. He did a video on this very one, which is his (the 3S)
One other thing that isn't mentioned much that helped me, is to condition yourself to being used to braking with your foot in the air. I was so used to braking with my heel firmly planted in the floorboard, but braking with your heel in the air might take some getting used to, in order to get the brake pressure you thought you wanted. This will help later when you need to blip the throttle.
Savage Geese went thorough for the most part. I would like to add this too. In order to catch the revs on time, sequence it like this. First put in gear then blip and let go of the clutch. Blip should happen right before clutch is released. I made a mistake of bliping and pulling the stick at the same time when I started practicing. Most of the time it was jerky and I got successful every now and then. Then I started experimenting and found the sequence I mentioned to be way more accurate and consistent. When you get really used to it it will look from the eyes of anyone one other than the driver that everything happens at the same time. That is why many footcam videos gives the wrong impression of doing all at once and actually tends to create that intimidation. Throttle response and gear throws also plays an important role in determining how fast you can downshift.
THANKYOU. I think I fell for this. Now I'm gonna grab my car.
Heal and toe done well and consistently actually reduces overall wear and tear.
Indeed, not to mention balance, neither of which he mentions in the vid. There's certainly more to heel toe than just being engaging!
Wear and tear of what
I think just even doing it consistently makes a big difference (doing it well should come with time). I learned to drive stick on a 2004 WRX and the car was still on the stock clutch (and transmission) when I sold it 12 years later with 200K miles on the clock.
So does never going wot. Saves a ton of piston ring wear.
@@tobagoak3014 your entire drivetrain, clutch, trans, diffs, axles, driveshaft shift forks, synchros, etc.
Excellent video! My only tip is that it will probably be easier to learn, and more noticeable when you do it wrong, if you learn in a car with a cable operated throttle.
I pretty much revmatch downshift and heel toe all the time during daily driving. The exception is when I am feeling lazy or tired, or I don't want to confuse a passenger.
It makes driving more fun and engaging, and it feels really rewarding when you nail it. Only way to become proficient is practice! That Atom looks like a total blast.
I'd say he explained it pretty well. Something I would've touched on, and will be particularly helpful to a younger audience (pre-legal driving age), is using certain games/simulators. For the most part I learned the concept and rhythm of heel-toe downshifting while playing "Live for Speed" with some Logitech G25 pedals almost twenty years ago. The foot rhythm is way overwhelming at first but with time and practice, it becomes second nature. Then when I got my license and a real car and started trying it, it was again very overwhelming at first because obviously the feeling, weight, speed, shoes, car etc are all specific but I was able to get it down much quicker since I already had the general muscle memory.
I'll also say I find it much easier to do in race driving conditions: You usually don't brake nearly as hard on the street, even during spirited driving, compared to an event on a race track, and when you brake harder, it brings the pedal lower which then makes it easier to reach the throttle pedal. I actually modified the throttle pedal on my one Mustang to raise it higher i.e. more in-line with the brake pedal.
One last part I might've mentioned was how fast you let out the clutch. If you nail the rev match perfectly (not often), you should be able to let the clutch out immediately, but if you are even off by a couple hundred RPM, you still want to feather the clutch out a little. The closer you are to the correct RPM match, the faster you can let it out. What you'll see people do, and I still do when learning a car or just in the heat of hard driving, is rev out and get the RPM a bit off, but still let the clutch out without feathering, it'll lock up the rear wheels (assuming it's RWD) for a moment and can cause a spin on entry.
As he said, all sounds crazy complex but it becomes second nature and you don't really think about it during the act. Left foot braking still feels completely weird and unnatural, but I recently started doing it in racing sims on sequential gearbox race cars and started getting more comfortable with it. Still wouldn't do it in a real car lol Even just taping the brake pedal mid-corner or down a straight to set the pads feels so wrong.
lfs is amazing
Really good overview. One comment I have for beginners is to remember that the harder you are braking the farther down the brake pedal will be (obviously). So if you practice to get throttle positions right under relatively light braking, you may find yourself bouncing off the rev limiter the first time you try to throw the car into a corner and really get on the brakes.
This is one of the most satisfying skills you can learn as a driver. Er, used to be able to learn…when cars had manual transmissions.
I can’t be the only one who loved that turbo flutter at 2nd gear
I know I’m very late, but I thought it might help someone who’s learning this to mention that your upper gears are always closer together than lower gears are. So it could help you to start trying this downshifting from say 4th gear to 3rd gear. That way if you mess it up it won’t be this huge buck from 3rd to 2nd. Also a lot of the time this happens around the mid rev range when you’re driving on the street, where the engine isn’t as responsive as up top. Something I had to learn was that when you’re at lower revs it can often take more throttle than you think to get a smooth downshift, but that depends entirely on the car and the spacing of the gears. Also I think (away from other drivers) it can help in the initial stages to drive along at maybe 30-40 miles an hour and then brake and put the car in neutral, and just blip the throttle a few times as if you were downshifting. When you do that, you’ll quickly notice if you’re applying even brake pressure or not, and it can help you figure out the best way for you to do it while keeping the brakes consistent. It’s called heel & toe but it can really be the left & right side of your foot or the edge of your shoe or whatever, the only goal is to find a way to use both the brake and throttle with one foot and everyone can do it slightly differently.
I started practicing H&T while I was still taking my driving lessons. Not to mention, my learning process featured a couple of scary jerky braking ! Thank you for sharing with all enthusiast drivers.
I like the analogy to playing a musical instrument. It's all about timing and rhythm. Super helpful, thanks.
If you're stuck with only one car to try this on and it doesn't feel like the pedal placement is right for you
1) Try different shoes
2) Try moving your foot offcenter of the brake pedal
3) Try doing some ankle mobility exercises and stretch those muscles involved in this motion
4) Try investing in a pedal spacer made in the aftermarket for your car
I learned this by reading a Bondurant BOOK 15 years ago. This is a great video!
Thank you Mr. Goose, this is by far the best video on this topic that I have ever watched. I'm looking forward to rewatching this and practicing in my own car. I'll never be able to match the way Senna drives in the NSX video, but I would like to get comfortable in doing this.
Great video. If more people learn how to drive maybe the manual won’t completely disappear.
This video may be the push I need to find somewhere quiet to practice this. I can rev-match pretty nearly perfect in my car without the brakes. This is definitely what I'm going to learn next. Thanks Mark.
This is the best rev matching/heel and toe explanation/teaching video by far
The best tutorial on heel&toe!
I rev match downshift on commuting trying to stay off brakes. Rev matching w brakes when traffic permits. Tailgaters, and no rev matching, due to slowing without brake light. Great video Mr Goose. It is like rolling a kayak. Muscle Memory.
The best explanation and training on this technique that I've found. Thanks
I've been driving a manual transmission for 30 years and I don't think I've really tried to heel toe all that much or at least never put in the practice. Thanks for the tips on working up through the process.
Dude its gonna change your life...
I'm very glad that my driving instructor taught me this; then told me to practice AFTER I passed my test. Done it in every fast, slow, good and bad car I've ever owned. Habit now.
That looks like so much fun! Being in control of the machine and extracting the most out of it. Nice!
I really like the step by step approach (get used to throttle blip first, then rev match, etc.), really helps break it down. definitely going to practice it. thanks!
Another thing besides revving just the right amount is the timing and release speed of the clutch pedal. Getting that right is just a important.
yeah right- if you under rev it and go a little slow on release you still get away with it. i mean it's not that cool then but if you figured out how man revs a blip gives you you can start there to get close to a perfect one :D
im learning this ahead of time, i just bought a racing sim with little knowledge of manual driving technique. This was really helpful.
Best heel toe video out there .
God I can't wait to have a stick shift again. I could only ever pull off heel toes off in my E21 BMW. Never got them down in my miata and stopped trying in my WRX. Next car will be the start again.
Love these new driving videos man. I hope the viewership picks up to match your effort!
This is the best demo of this technique I've seen. What about double-clutching on downshifts. I do that because it helps on my cars. Now I need to combine this technique with my double-clutching....
Perfect timing for this video. I so need this.
I drove stick for many years and never even knew about this until recently. I took a break from manual cars back into automatic cars for 8 years, now going back watching reviews on cars i was interested in to respike that car hobby, i kept seeing everyone mention its good or bad for heel toe xyz car. I couldnt figure out what the hell it even was.. but now going back to purchasing a stick car soon and seeing this mentioned im definitely gunna have to give this some practice when i purchase soon. This is a super helpful video and makes alot of sense seeing visuals, and all the comments, thanks!
I saw a video of a Porsche driving instructor on this topic. The way he did it is to jam all the pedals in at the same time (the clutch pedal, the brake pedal and the gas pedal). Then he releases all those pedals as quick as he jammed them in ... before getting back on the gas again. It looks like he is trying to push his butt up against his seat with both feet. It was a sight to see and it does work wonderfully.
I naturally learned how to heal toe downshift myself. As with driving a standard transmission vehicle, you can watch all the tutorial videos available online but it really comes down to driving one yourself daily, and learning comfortability and muscle memory. The best way to describe it is it comes to you naturally. It becomes a second nature to you kinda like riding a bicycle, or learning how to drive a manual in general. The more you drive one - the more natural it becomes and the more fluid you become handling it. I literally learned heel toe by feeling. I hadn't even heard what it meant back when I had my first manual car, I just realized it was way easier to blip the throttle going around a corner to accelerate out then it was to just rev match downshift normally. So just go out and drive. Buy manual cars when they're available! Pretty soon lazy drivers are gonna completely make manuals go the way of the Dodo.
Love your show mr goose. Just want to share my way of rev matching is to double clutch on down shift and blip throttle in neutral while applying very gentle pressure on the shifter at the next gate I’m trying to select. When enough revs are reached the shifter will give a tactile feed back at which point I depress the clutch and slip it in. It works all the time in every manual transmission car with no need to practice muscle memory
You might think it’s takes more time to double clutch, and you would be right but generally you have plenty of time to get the car in the correct gear before the apex of corner. Also the amount of throttle application needed for a smooth re match is less the you would need for a single clutch rev match.
More than one way to do it both are valid options
why is this not the first video to come up when I search heel toe!!! This is exactly what everyone needs
Only tips I can give is not to give up. It took years of doing it everyday to get good at it... But its so worth it. When you do a downshift and nail the perfect heel and toe its literally tje most gratifying feeling in the world. Plus you can basically hop off the clutch and the car engages the next gear so fast and smooth you dont even feel the downshift!
With a V8 engine the roar it makes is literally the most visceral and amazing feel and sound ever.
Awesome step by step instructions. I've been rev matching on my downshifts my whole life. Just timing and leaving space in front of me for braking. I've learned to have a fast foot. But, I need to master this heel-toe method now, so I don't have to interrupt consistent braking.
A new challenge!
Thanks for a great explanation.
Much love from Cebu, Philippines! Thanks for this video Mr Geese. Its the simplest to understand out of all heel toe videos out there.
i'm trying to learn heel/toe, this will help - best video i've seen. but i've been driving manuals for 30 years, never even heard of heel/toe until a few years ago. i take turns by just coasting around about 2/3 of it with the clutch in, then rev match coming out of the turn. to be fair, heel/toe is really a racing technique to allow making a turn as fast as possible. on public roads, not necessary. but i understand the fun aspect.
Great video! I'm glad somebody is out there teaching people how to drive. I think most people can't even drive their cars properly.... That's what causes a lot of accidents..
Lol I actually learned how to rev match from watching SG's Type RA video. Life changer thanks!
The timing of this video couldn't be more perfect for me. I've been driving stick for about a year, and I've recently gotten much more comfortable rev matching downshifts, so now this is my next thing to work on.
Exactly as stated in the video, before making the jump to heel-toe downshifting, you can practice simply rev-matching. Whenever you downshift, match your revs. With enough practice you'll be doing 5th to 2nd heel-toe downshifts when slowing for a tight corner, no problem.
It does feel and sound great when you get it right.
And it saves your clutch and gearbox 👍🏻
Excellent video!!
I found out during my first (and only) track event that doing it under heavy braking is easier. On a track when you're ridiculously deep in the brakes, there's a lot more stability in the pedal so you don't have to be as precise with how hard you press it. Then again you're slowing down faster so everything else has to be quicker, but for me braking is the hardest part. On the street trying to heel toe while braking like a normal person has been near-impossible to do smoothly. There's so much give in the pedal because you're barely pressing it; if you screw it up just a little bit, it feels like you missed it by a mile. I've only driven stick for 28k miles but I made it a point to start learning to heel-toe immediately. It's still difficult after all those miles, but I get it mostly right most of the time and it's very satisfying.
I learned downshifting with rev matching on motorcycle fairly easy, maybe because of hand contols. Now trying to learn it on a car, and it is much more difficult for me. I guess hand - leg coordination. What I figured on motorcycle is that muscle memory is important, and after a while you don't even think what are you doing and it comes naturaly. Just keep working on it
This is the best instruction I have seen on this topic, well done!
I do it unconsciously every time I'm driving manual. It helps smooth the downshifts while braking before corner entry so the car doesnt jerk, possibly making one lose control.
Practice, practice, practice.
The higher the speed, the higher the rev match required.
Bit late to the party but I had the chance to practice heel and toe with a rental Elantra N for 2 weeks. Having the right shoes made a huge difference, I had no luck with Adidas boost series as the foam on the base would deform and make my foot slip off the accelerator. I found converse or shoes with thin rubber base were the best (Im size 13), I was able to consistently heel accelerator pedal with converse on. Stationary practice was good but just driving around an empty block and practice downshift 4-3-2 with proper feedback from having consistent brake pressure was the best way for me. Took me around 1hr of practice around empty streets to have the confidence to heel toe with normal driving, and 3hrs practice to be able to consistently make the heel tap every time. The hardest part was getting consistent brake pressure while reaching for the accelerator pedal without slipping off the brake. My ankle was very rigid which made it all extremely hard, but it is very doable with lots of practice.
I've been driving manual for 8 years, for my previous cars I was able to hit brake and accelerator at the same time without lifting my foot off the floor, but this is not possible with my current car. Heel toe is not required for streeting driving as I can always brake, then shift, and rev match after braking, but if i want to take the car on track, being able to heel and toe is a must.
Mark, you're so handsome with your performance driving tutorials. Clearly you like performance driving and gathering all the knowledge you can on it. Only you can be the one to make good videos on it for other people.
I'd strongly consider this type of video as an additive to your channel alongside your usual formula. Not just the fine-print series, but a tutorial series.
You're in an awesome car and I know how "tryhard" you are with driving, so I'm gonna listen to you. I'm gonna listen to you *hard*
Keep it up.
As usual, the best automotive content on youtube. Keep on keeping on.
Takes some time to get it right but well worth the time invested. Don't get discouraged it can be difficult starting out. Another thing to keep in mind is adjusting or changing your pedal pox. Cars have different spacing from brake to gas. Starting out with pedals that are closer together I find easier.
I got some Puma x Pirelli Replica-X. Great comfort and sturdy build with enough lip to really blip the throttle. Highly recommended.
I daily drive a manual, I didn't learn much new here, but I still enjoyed the video, more pls.
Another video idea: sometimes multiple downshifts in quick succession aren't efficient because how fast you're decelerating or because you might want max acceleration NOW. Consider touching on skipping gears and how to match RPMs in these scenarios. 4th to 2nd, 6th to 3rd, etc.
Love the vid. My 2 cents on the safety aspect...I wouldn't practice coming up to a stop sign or light, at least not when you're first starting. If you mess up and panic you could end up blowing the light or sign and causing an accident. I know because I practiced in a long parking lot and there were times that I messed up and if I had messed up at a light or sign, I probably would have hit someone.
Great info. As a Hpde instructor don’t expect this trading at a weekend event. Do as he advises, do it everyday around town until it is a instinct before trying it at 150 with an instructor who quits for the weekend. Great video
Excellent demonstration of footwork that I couldn't really see in other rev-matching videos. This was hard for me in the beginning because of not having learned it before (well, i didn't even know what rev-matching was!), but like the instructor said, I practice it while driving in back roads in my town, driving my right hand-drive, 5-speed Maruti Swift (it's actually Suzuki). I have a long way to go but this is really fun and I hope this time around the clutch lasts longer. :) Dhanyawaad for that great driving lesson!
Your suggestion about trying different shoe sizes is so true. I some cars I wish I could move the pedal box about 4 inches to the left.
Awesome that the atom really let's me see how you utilize these techniques. Other videos of a cell phone jammed in between someone's legs to show the technique is difficult to understand. Thanks savage for the good video!
Brilliant class, thank you.
Thank you. I understand the concept but was struggling to not under rev or over rev. I will utilize your suggestions.
Thank you.
Great video.. learned this on 79 MGB, a blast from my uncle (who raced V). No HP but good technique. Miss this in modern family vehicles.
When I started learning how to drive a manual transmission car, I started also learning rev matching/heel-toe. Now I find it hard to downshift smoothly without rev matching, it feels alien.
Thanks for making this vid for future manual drivers! Cheers Geeseman.
You never want to downshift without revmatching.
Kr Dz While I agree with that, most people won’t. And it isn’t necessary for normal driving, majority of drivers don’t even know what we do lol. I do it because I’m used to it and it feels abnormal not to.
For performance driving and racing, obviously!
@@Junesba I do it all the time, every downshift = revmatch, all modern automatic gearboxes do a throttle bilp every time you downshift, no matter how you drive, because it's the only right way to downshift
Kr Dz I rev match every downshift too so I don’t know what to tell ya, not everyone rev matches 🤷♂️.
My way of getting the hang of it was like Mark mentioned start with downshift rev matching to find the sweetspots of the gearing so i know how much i have to push the revs to get matching engine and transmission revs. I am lucky enough to live in an area where we have lots of towns so i practiced heel toe downshifts with brakes in a straight line before proceeding to corners. Needed maybe half a year to become decent enough for normal street driving. My passengers didn't even notice i was heel toeing.
My 4 week old new car has rev matching and the pedals are a bit weird for me so i am using the feature for now until i get comfortable with the car.
Old car was a 2010 Mustang GT, new car is a 2019 i30 Fastback N.
I would also say for beginners, practice having a light touch with the brakes and don't just dump the clutch. You can feather the clutch out if you rev too high and wait for your RPMs to drop a bit before letting up on the clutch and hooking back up. Most people mentally can't help but think of heel-toe as a racing technique, and because of that, oftentimes I feel like the folly of beginners is to over-drive with big/fast inputs, and that's a recipe for upsetting the car. You can be much more gentle than you think when practicing heel-toe, and the good news is, in my opinion at least, heel-toe downshifting is much easier to accomplish when you're hard into the brakes approaching a corner (please don't do this in any kind of potentially dangerous public situation though). Being deep into the brakes means you don't have to modulate the brake as much to maintain an even pedal pressure, and maintaining a light, even pressure at the top of the pedal is actually much harder to do. So if you practice at slower speeds with more gentle brake pressure, and you get a feel for when to let the clutch back up, you'll actually be much more advanced in terms of feel than people that only utilize this technique when they're mashing the brakes and dropping a couple gears. Good luck out there!
Great outline! For me, the operative term is "muscle memory" It took a ton of time & practice to become competent. Nothing to add, this is the best overview I've seen.
Great to see this really broken down. I feel like I'm getting rusty with this skill since changing cars. Position of the pedals on the Boxster make it very difficult to execute unless you're very deep into the brake pedal which isn't a common occurrence during even spirited "street" driving... Another reason an MX-5 or similar is a great learning tool on almost any road..
this is true, hardcore overboosted brakes in modern cars combined with a throttle profile thats not linear makes it very tough sometimes
Boxster pedal box is well suited for heel to toe for me. Brake and go pedal are close. I roll my foot over to go pedal.
@@maxmartz4665 Probably a mix of things for me. Shoe size and being so used for various Miata's for years. Only picked up the Boxster about a month ago so still learning it. I used to be able to roll on with the edge of my foot on the MX-5's, the approach outlined in the video (ball on brake, heel to gas) seems better on the Boxster for "me" and I need more practice at it frankly. Video was a great reality check and I also had never even considered building muscle memory while at a stop which is brilliant. These videos deserve FAR more views. Out of curiosity, what are you running? 2010 Boxster S here.
@@jasonschronicles I learned on a Mustang GT Fox body. Updated to years of Pathfinder and Tacoma manuals with not easy braking heel to toe, but down shift rev matching. Still getting back the feel for braking heel to toe. I found video great too. My Boxster is 2019 S manual in GT Silver. Sport Auto rev match is good on a track days now, I am working to get it on my own.
I find some of the Porsche pedal boxes have a kink to the right and the 2 pedals don't match up unless you're 100% on the brakes threshold braking down from 120mph. You can try changing brake pads for a softer one that has some slop up top, or shoes, or a custom pedal box.
Thanks, Mark. Braking it up into manageable pieces like this was exactly how I learned to do it. Still working on the smoothness and consistency part though.
Mark? Wait. His name isn't Savage Geese? I feel lied to!
😂
Great video as usual, covers it all. If you wanna learn just start practicing.
I learned to heel and toe in my old Fiat Uno (1990). It was very hard the pedals were miles apart, no RPM gauge so all done by ear. It took me about a a couple of months to get okay on the road but another 5 years to get very good at it. Almost all other cars are so easy to rev match now. Also, most normal people will think you a bit weird when you heel and toe in your daily ;)
It is worth learning this skill as on track and skidpan etc. I am very comfortable changing gears very smoothly I don't have to think about it at all...
Mark, great video with a solid progression for learning this skill. Only suggestion I have would be to include some slo-mo shots of your foot action.
When you're first learning to heel-toe, I'd try doing it barefoot. It nearly eliminates the pedal height issue because your foot can bend and pivot much more without a shoe. Obviously you then want to get used to doing it in shoes so you don't limit yourself but the level of feedback from driving barefoot is unparalleled. It's like driving with your bare hands after wearing gloves.
Wil Thieme SavageGeese does it with chunky running shoes, looks like magic to me
Im speculating a video on “left foot brake” in turns
Thanks for ur awesome video
This video is amazing, thanks for the exercises!
Rev matching... Master that a long time ago. Heel toe... My feet are too big and I suck ass at it.
Great video!
Best video I have seen on learning heel/toe. I’ve owned my Miata for two years and have just recently found the most comfortable and consistent foot position on the pedals.
This is a really good primer and a contribution to the car community. Thank you.
Best video on this topic
Cool soundtrack at the start. Makes me hyped for a series.
Great video, savagegeese! Thank you for doing this one. Also, props to using an Ariel Atom as the instructional tool. So awesome!
Thanks, appreciate this how-to... best one I came across. Be safe!
Something that I recommend is to heel-and-toe with your heel on the floor, just moving the top of your foot across to the brake. This is because having your heel on the floor helps support your body and keep it in place under hard braking, which makes it easier to make precise and consistant inputs. This doesn't work in all cars though- it works best in cars with floor-mounted throttles, like in a BMW.
In my z3 2.8L roadster the brake pedal is way higher than the throttle. I can't reach reach the throttle without mashing down the brakes. :(
@@drtm1718 just use your small ball of your foot on the edge of the pedal to apply the brake smoother. And wrap your foot around to blip the throttle. Dont neccesarily have to use your whole heel and toe to rev match.
@@mojogustavo77 Thanks. I'll give it a try. I've rev matched every downshift as long as I can remember, but when braking aggressively all I can do is plant my heel on the floor and pivot my toe between the brake and the throttle, but it feels like I'm pumping the brakes because I'm removing pressure from the brake pedal completely to tap the throttle when I downshift.
@@drtm1718 keep it up on man im practicing too. When you get those crisp downshifts from 4-3-2 it's wicked. (I miss revmatching on my streetbike it's like ten fold easier lol)
Yes, taught myself this way (heel down, midfoot on brake, toe to throttle) in my 330i...
Then I saw this video ------ oops
Thanks Man! This simplifies it so much! If you can and if your health allows it....more please.
Excellent tutorial.
My personal experience has been that older vehicles were much easier to heal and toe than my current golf r. Older cars had much more progressive brakes which made them more forgiving to oscillating foot pressure. Not to mention the very linear relationship a cable connected to a carburettor gives the driver. 50% is always 50%. There was no middle man computer. In my current golf I find I can only heel and toe smoothly during heavy braking. At sensible road speeds I stick to rev matching. After watching this video I think I will practice my light braking heel and toe some more!
Putting the savage in the savagegeese, that is some impressive driving man! I tried the whole process in traffic surrounded by other drivers a few times and it felt extremely dangerous so I gave up. Now I am re-inspired to try the steps and work it up!
Excellent, exactly what I was looking for
I already know how to heel toe, but it’s a Savagegeese video, so I’ll watch and click like anyway.
Awesome insight savagegeese. We appreciate the content
Excellent instruction ! Thank you for taking the time to produce quality, educational films. Great channel.
If you don't need to get good at heel&toe in every car but only your own, a great assistance is wide pedal wideners, like these: g6.owledge.de/myg6/oldengine/chrom-pedale.jpg
Especially if you don't like to wear wide shoes just for driving.
Funny how that stuff is normally a cheap common style upgrade and almost no young car enthusiast buying those has ever heard of heel&toe. (But I think it is nonetheless meant to negate the super-safety design from the manufacturer that focuses on reducing risk of accidentally stepping on the wrong pedal.)
Little anecdote: Those Foliatec pedals are mounted with screws and stuff and they need to get green light from an inspector. I got it, but later I had to saw the screws off because my shoelaces sometimes got caught behind a pedal. Very scary and risky, so a failure from the people who had one job.
I have not been driving my own car in recent years, through, and in the boring cars I am driving now I am rarely tempted to do heel&toe, but just use engine brake. ... Wouldn't be fun, especially with electronics interfering with my inputs all the time. And that's an *IMPORTANT POINT:* You can only practice something properly if you confirmed that your car doesn't try to do it for you. This stuff sucks if you don't have input accuracy.
11:45 You never heel&toe into first? Don't even wanna show it? Oh come on, even I do it. More fun engine noise and a bit more of a challenge, and especially useful when on a slow approach to a traffic light that might turn green soon.