6MT and the right pair of shoes

cruzmisl

When I first got my G37S, I was pretty much clunking everywhere. My GF was a bobblehead due to this and said I need to man up and learn how to drive the car properly.

I usually wear athletic type shoes. Some adidas bounce, nike shox, air force ones, and some other random assorted shoes.

After I got the hang of the car a bit more, I found my self clunking a lot more in certain pairs of shoes. It didn't dawn on me that shoes with thicker soles were either muting more feeling from the clutch (not that it really gives us any to begin with) or giving me slightly more travel that it was causing me to inadvertently mess up.

I've since found that shoes like nike tennis classics, or any thinner-soled tennis shoe...adidas has a bunch, and soccer type shoes like the Air Gatos work really well for me. These weren't my preferred type of shoes before but I find myself going for them just because of the way it changes my control of the clutch. I hate wearing any type of dress shoe in the car.

Anyway, just my random observation. I was shoe agnostic when I drove an automatic, but now my behavior with the 6MT in wanting smooth shifts + clutch longevity has definitely affected my shoe choices.

Maybe it's just me...

spearfish25

I like bare-foot but it's hard to heel-toe. Picked up a pair of Pilotis that are awesome. The worst for me are a pair of leather soled dress shoes...like driving with concrete bricks on my feet.

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ZedZed

I tried the car with a pair of Geox, can't say at had any problem clutching. I do think it would be a problem with a pair of running shoes cause of the fact the pedals are so close to each other. Whereas I don't have any problems driving my 6Spd manual Audi A3 with fat sports shoes.

Zaggeron

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Red__Zed

For normal-to-mildly spirited driving, I'm pretty much a shoe agnostic. I've been driving a manual since I got my license, and I've spent significant time driving in traffic in a pair of thick work boots, skate shoes, etc... all that provide literally zero feel. Took a little time to get used to, but I've no issue now running the car in just about anything.

For something crazy, I've got a couple pairs of Piloti's around here somewhere. I'll break them out whenever I've got the time to put the Z through it's paces.

antman22

puma makes some pretty good shoes for driving, even outside of their racing shoes.

kenchan

i wear shoes with rounded heel when driving MT cars. even for work i wear leather slippers with the heels rounded since my dd is MT. for business meetings i take another pair of leather shoes.

for motoring my Z and G, i wear piloti's. i have several pairs but not all pairs fit well... so there's some trial and error to be done.

Jeffblue

Really popular on the drift scene:

kenchan

matches your brake calpers, jeff!

m4a1mustang

I have a pair of Puma Drift Cats that are very nice for when I know all I'm doing is going out for a drive or hitting up the track. Otherwise it doesn't matter.

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ClemsonWill

I have had trouble with dress shoes as well. I have big feet and they tend to be too big when managing the pedals. I agree with Zaggeron, Chucks are the best.

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Mt Tam I am

Ouch! No foolin'. Barefoot means SRM. Dress Shoes are tougher to heel toe in but I rarely wear them. OP's Nike solution works for me.

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Mt Tam I am

Yes but do they come in bright colors?

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6spd

im a tad shorter than my fiancee, so i bought some shoes with large soles so that when she wears heels, im not being towered over, and they were a bitch to drive in. I just got used to them and there is no issue anymore. these were boots btw.

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klubbheads

as far as smooth driving its all practice and shoe type should make absolutly no difference of how smooth you drive.
With enough practice you will drive smooth with any type of shoe or without a shoe. Adjustments with different shoes should not take more than going through couple of gears.

As far as fast driving such as using heel-n-toe, shoes have everything to do with it... but not for smooth driving.

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