Shift It
Yourself
Most modern racing cars change gear with paddles. Plenty of the good ones do not. Four of our rigs carry a real six-speed H-pattern shifter, a clutch pedal and a handbrake, which is everything you need to practice the techniques that go with a gated gearbox. One of the four is the Motion GT, so you can run a manual gearbox on the motion platform.
Why A Gate Is Different From Paddles
A sequential or paddle gearbox only lets you ask for the next gear up or the next gear down. An H-pattern lets you select any gear at any time, which is more freedom and considerably more responsibility.
With paddles the only real skill is timing. With a gate you also have to find the right slot, move between them cleanly, and match the engine speed to the road speed as you do it. Get that wrong on a downshift and the drivetrain is jolted, which upsets the car at exactly the moment you were trying to settle it for a corner.
That is why the technique below exists. It is not nostalgia. It is a set of solutions to a real mechanical problem.
The Techniques Worth Practicing
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Rev matching
Blipping the throttle during a downshift so the engine is already spinning at roughly the speed the lower gear will demand. Done well the change is imperceptible; done badly the driven wheels are asked to slow the engine and the car lurches.
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Heel and toe
Braking and blipping the throttle at the same time with one foot, while the other works the clutch. It is the technique people most often come to a simulator to work on, because doing it repeatedly in a road car is hard on the drivetrain. It needs three pedals, which is why it is worth knowing that these rigs have them.
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Being smooth through the gate
Shifts that are hurried tend to be inaccurate. A great deal of the improvement people see comes simply from moving the lever deliberately rather than quickly.
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Choosing the right gear for the corner
With a gate you can skip gears, and often should. Deciding what you actually want at the apex, rather than working down one at a time out of habit, is a real part of driving these cars well.
What You Can Practice Here
Our library runs iRacing and Assetto Corsa, covering more than 170 cars across more than 140 circuits, which includes plenty of machinery that uses a gated gearbox. Classic racing cars, older touring and GT cars, and road cars are the usual places people start.
Four rigs are fitted for it
Six-speed H-pattern shifter, clutch pedal and handbrake, with load-cell or active pedals and direct drive steering. The flagship Motion GT is one of them. Mention manual when you book so one can be set aside where possible.
Pedal spacing matters
Heel and toe depends on where the brake and throttle sit relative to each other and to your foot, and on how the clutch is set up. Say what you are working on during setup so the position can be adjusted before you start.
This page is about motorsport technique on a simulator. If you are looking to learn to drive a manual car on the road, or for teen and new driver programs, that is a different service: see Academy Driver Education.
Booking A Session
Sessions start at $40 an hour and no experience is required. Setup and a few orientation laps come with every booking.
Coaching is available as an optional add-on: Basic Coaching ($40) puts an instructor beside you for the whole session, and Advanced Coaching ($60) adds telemetry review, which compares your inputs against a reference lap.
Walk-ins are welcome Friday and Saturday, 2 to 10 PM. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday are by appointment. The lounge is closed to the public on Tuesdays.
Simulator time is practice and preparation. It is not a substitute for real-world driving instruction.
Two Ways To Put In The Laps
Drive At Our Tampa Lounge
Eight professional simulators at 1421 Massaro Blvd, Tampa. Four fitted with a six-speed H-pattern shifter and handbrake.
BOOK A SESSION →Build One For Home
Academy also builds custom simulators and can specify a shifter, clutch and handbrake. Try the rigs in Tampa first.
EXPLORE BUILDS →Need simulators brought to a corporate day, party or team event? See Academy Events.
Related
Drift
Uses the same four rigs, and the handbrake work overlaps directly with shifting through a gate.
DRIFT SIMULATOR TAMPA →Rally
The other discipline that leans on the handbrake rigs, with left foot braking and weight transfer.
RALLY SIMULATOR TAMPA →