Update: Yes I bought a manual Miata. And yes I learned to drive it with video games.

My European mind can't comprehend being allowed to drive a manual without knowing how

As a an european. WHAT.
1% manual drivers.
5k miata

People like to label BeamNG as a crashing simulator when it's a driving simulator with realistic car crash physics.

Learning manual in game is ALOT harder than manual irl as you do not have the vibrations from the clutch engaging when driving in game

For most cars, moneyshifting is like quicksand- way less common than our childhood would have us believe

4:13 I’m dying at him holding down the brake and wondering why it’s stalling

8:24 number 1 rule in manual car daily driving: never EVER use the left foot for the brake pedal. The left foot is for clutch pedal only and it should never move away from the clutch pedal unless it's an emergency or if you know what you're doing.

As I'm sure you're aware, make sure you get a pre-purchase inspection on the miata! People love to hide the rot on those things. Also, don't hesitate to ask the owner for tips while you're doing the test drive, they'd more than likely be happy to help you out.

As someone who learned to drive stick in BeamNG and now drives a stick regularly, the hardest part I found was the pressure of traffic.

5:21 in real life if you let off the clutch slowly you'd hear the engine become slightly less in pitch or something so thats when you know you've hit the biting point(its called the half clutch position too) thats when you can give the car some beans and let go of the clutch slowly....you'd also feel the car vibrate a bit more when it hits the biting point

I had simulator classes in driving school (it was mandatory in Brazil for a while) and I can say it's legit harder to get the feel of a car from a simulator compared to real-life. In a simulator you don't have things like g-forces, peripheral vision, you can't really feel the clutch's bite points, etc (unless you are using a top of the line driving sim).

Fun fact: The reason you couldn't start the car without the clutch pressed is because there's a clutch safety switch (Would be neutral safety switch/ brake light switch if an automatic transmission) which basically closes the circuit to the starting motor if the clutch isn't pressed as a safety mechanism so you don't start the car and end up flying. TLDR: Beamng realism

If you want to avoid money shifts, just do not grab the shifter. Instead you should essentially push it into desired position with open hand. That is like the first lesson driving instructor told me.

dunno if anybody mentioned, but try not to rest your foot on the clutch, in an ideal world the clutch is either on or off, and resting your foot on it can exert a little bit of pressure on the mechanisms and wear them out because that little bit turns into a partial input. I've loved my saab the day I saw it, and it's a pleasure to drive, so I wish you the best of luck on your journey, btw another good thing to practice (at the cost of the parts, albeit) is holding yourself still on an uphill using just your clutch, and possibly some speeder as necessary, getting that ability under my belt on the worst hill in my neighborhood really calmed my nerves about uphill starts

9:48 Welp, time to twin turbo LSX swap it

4:40 European here, this is the way man. I did this in my mom's car after getting my license because every car feels so different. The car I took lessons in was so easy to drive and I never stalled it. Got my license and drove my mom's car around. Stalled it all the time because the clutch feel was just so horrible. I took it to a parking lot and just drove off and stopped for 20 minutes to get a good feel for the clutch. And yeah, it worked out!

I genuinely did exactly this, I did know manual but I didn’t know the dynamics of the Miata I was going to buy.

Genuinely helps me a ton

As someone who's only ever owned manual cars watching Americans try to drive manual is always entertaining 😂. BUT please DON'T use your left foot to brake like you do in the video left foot is clutch only! (Unless you're some next level rally driver)

I bought a car that was a stick not knowing how to drive. My dad taught me that day and on Saturday and I forced myself to drive the car to work on Monday. It's all easy, if it's an older Miata though you would probably gain some benefit by doing some bushings for the shifter cables to clean up any potential slop. I had it easy because the Mini I bought had a crispy gated feel to it. Now 8 years later I don't even have to think about anything while I'm driving, practice makes perfect!