Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option

This is a big problem with people these days. You admitted you suck at driving, you’re just barely learning how to do it, but you think you’re qualified to mandate what is available to everyone else? You do not have enough experience to have an opinion that affects other people. Stick shift is completely intuitive when you know how to do it.

Manual transmissions are operated almost entirely by “feel”. Once that sinks in, it’s a lot easier.

If you can, go find a quiet street, parking lot, or any place with an incline. Practice stopping in the middle of the incline and taking off without stalling. Don’t stress out when you inevitably stall. You will and that’s ok. If you can master starting on a hill, you’ll find that the rest of it comes a lot easier.

With the transmision in 1st and your foot on the brake, release the clutch very slowly until the engine starts dragging just a little. Slowly take your foot off the brake. You’ll know the clutch is in the right spot if it keeps you from rolling backwards. At that point, start to accelerate and let the clutch out slowly. Continue to accelerate and up the hill you go.

Don’t hesitate to hit the brakes at any time if you feel like you’re going to roll backwards. Better to stall than to roll back into someone behind you. Depending on the gearing, you may be able to start in 2nd and that will keep you from having to worry about shifting in the middle of the hill.

Don’t panic. Learning is good. If someone gets upset with you because you’re inexperienced and stall out then screw them. They should try to remember what it was like to learn how to drive. It just takes practice, practice, and more practice.

It took me a year worth of lessons every week and constant practice, and I passed. I’m a pretty decent driver now. Manual is better because it doesn’t change gear when I don’t ask it to. Here you can pass a driving test with an automatic, but if you do, you’re not licenced to drive a manual

“Are cars always this awful” you ask, whilst shitting on the alternative…

Hard to say without knowing details. How’s the traffic in your area, is it a big city or more rural? What country?

Hello, driving enthusiast here.
Driving was stressful for me to learn as well. But i picked it up pretty quick. I learned in an auto and learned manual later which took some practice.

This all being said, like anything else, you are only finding manuals distracting because you’re still learning and they aren’t second nature. once you don’t have to think about driving a manual it won’t be distracting. automatics are the distraction problem, imo, because they allow drivers to play on their phone instead of driving.

I’ve only ever fallen asleep while driving an automatic (twice), never a manual.

You are frustrated while you are learning and that’s to be expected but don’t you dare go blaming your problems on others, such as cyclists. Being a poor, distracted, and terrible driver is your fault and your problem. If you can’t handle driving around other people then stop driving.

Like anything else, the more you practice, the better you get. I remember how much anxiety and stress I had when I was learning; now I don’t even think about it.

Could you get a friend or relative to take you out to a quiet area to get more practice away from traffic and other road users? Then slowly build up to more stressful situations. I was taking my kids a few times a week around the quieter back streets, round and round and round, until they got their confidence up, then we went out to small roads with traffic, and built up until they were driving on busy main roads and freeways.

Here in Australia, you can choose to get an automatic-only license and not have to learn manual. Is that an option where you are?

As someone who drives an automatic, I so wish I could have a manual. I much prefer driving them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad I was able to drive an automatic and get experience first, but once you start really driving a car, you realize how much an automatic limits you. Things like engine braking, coasting, and honestly just staying in one consistent gear when you’re trying to maintain good speed control are much harder, if not next to impossible depending on the automatic.

Learning to drive is going to take a lot of time though, and the fact that everyone just does it and takes it for granted I think really messes with you. Speaking from experience, most people don’t even learn to drive that well, no matter how much they drive. I see people constantly driving off the lines, poor speed control, braking distance, etc. just blows my mind that where I live (USA) there’s next to no requirements to drive.

Omg, stop whining. Do or do not, there is no try. If you don’t want to drive, then why are you doing this?

Driving is one of the easiest things you’ll ever do in life (wspeckally with cars built after about 1990).

If learning how to drive is this difficult for you, what are you going to do when something truly difficult comes along?

Being car free is totally possible.

Lol, OK, you do you.

No, it’s not awful all the time. Cruising down a highway or familiar streets can be kind of zen. I say this as someone who despises car-culture and believes most transit should be mass, public, transit options like buses and trains. But I have fond memories of cruising down the highway at night by myself singing along with my favorite music.

I live somewhere that’s walkable and has a subway system now, and it’s much better. Don’t have to worry about parking, insurance, fuel, drinking too much. So if you really hate driving, you could look into living somewhere that doesn’t require it.

At the risk of sounding negative - if driving a car is too hard for you, maybe you shouldn’t. You’re going to be piloting a 4000 pound boulder down the road. Would you really be okay killing someone by accident?

We live in an age of Ubers & Lyfts. Taxis have never been cheaper nor more convenient. Being car free is totally possible.

Regardless, I would still encourage you to finish your studies and get your driver’s license, if only because it’s the one form of ID every adult is expected to have.

Oh wow, you must learn manual, that’s ridiculous! Where in the world is that?

I’ve not started yet, but I’m going to learn automatic when I go to learn, my GF has been learning manual for over 2 years because her dad and our friend who drives said that it makes the most sense to, when in reality that’s just because of what they were told based on outdated advice.

She even has an automatic waiting for her once she finally passes, but she’s stubborn and doesn’t want to switch to learning automatic, it’s really frustrating how stubborn she is about not giving up or approaching it from another direction.

She has dyslexia and the British Dyslexic Association even recommends that dyslexics learn automatic as it’s a known thing they struggle with. She even had to write L and R on her hands, bless her.

I’ve heard some people benefit from intensive driving courses, where you do like 2 solid weeks of lessons then take the test, but no clue if they have those in your country

I’ve suggested to her, if she really wants a manual licence then get the automatic licence, then decide if she really wants the manual, as she’ll be more comfortable with roads and driving and can just focus on the manual aspect

Think of your favorite video game or hobby, do you have to remember each movement and action? Driving is like that, eventually it’s just an extension of your ability to move about.

Where do you live that you HAVE to learn manual? Here in Germany you have a choice of either learning manual or automatic. If you learn automatic though you are only allowed to drive automatic cars and if you learn manual you are allowed to drive both.

Yep! In my experience it’s awful and it stays awful for ever.

But just like with going to work, over time you come to accept that existence is suffering.