AM I REALLY THIS BAD?! | Teaching Myself Heel Toe Downshifting!

[@rjmari]

I don't actually use my heel. I use the left and right side of the ball of my foot. Then I just rotate my foot between the brake and gas pedals, changing the angle depending on how much gas I need. I find this technique much easier because you're pressing on the top of the gas pedal instead of the bottom. The bottom of the gas pedal is harder to get fine control with because it's a floor pedal. The drawback is your foot won't be firmly on the brake pedal since only the inner half will be in contact with it. Give it a try and see if it works better for you.

[@TheParkingLotMechanic]

I'm definitely gonna try! Hopefully it does work but I think my brake pedal is a bit too far up even fully pressed to try that. I heard someone say these GTIs aren't the best for it so I just figured if I can learn on a car that's difficult the get it down, then I should be good on other cars!

[@danielmocarski4031]

Hey, I also have a mk6 gti and what I found to work best is to not actually use your heel and toe but rather the left and right of your toe. It may be hard to visualize by try keeping the upper half, left side of your shoe on the brake and roll the upper half, right side of your shoe towards the right to blip the gas pedal. Definitely takes practice but once you get it down it’s smooth.

[@TheParkingLotMechanic]

So I saw this but hadn't gotten around to replying yet, but saw a video of Ayrton Senna doing this exact method and am definitely going to try it soon. Thanks for the advice!

[@mksix8951]

On certain cars, its easier to roll the right side of the foot off the brake to blip the gas instead of using your heel. Floor pedals make using the heel really difficult.

[@TheParkingLotMechanic]

I'll have to try that. Not easy for my first go around. Spacing on these pedals is unfortunate so just rolling may not work. Gonna try it though!

[@GekanS]

I've seen it done, but could never master it. I'm thankful that my ride has throttle matching through the ecu. Kudos to learning something new and difficult.

[@TheParkingLotMechanic]

It is really hard. I say it a lot but it really is a SKILL. These cars don't make it easy, either.

[@constantinrenoir8273]

Great job and very great video man, it's really interesting to watch your process to learn heel toe. It could be so great to watch your progress for next videos, it could be possible to keep the footcam for next driving videos please? And very great cut! As a suggestion, you can keep the inclusion of the footcam angle in full screen with cuts between the other angles, rather than including it in a small screen within the screen. ;)

[@TheParkingLotMechanic]

I originally had to foot cam as full screen a lot more often but felt it was a bit boring. Thanks for the notes and I'll def keep it full screen more the next time!

[@constantinrenoir8273]

@@TheParkingLotMechanic Great, thank you very much man! ;)

[@ochicore]

It's been a while since you posted this, have you made a practical driving habit out of this? I also have a mk6 and have been having issues with the ramp gas pedal in this car requiring a lot of foot travel when h/t downshifting.

[@devinmillerinvesting3360]

Yoooo. I for sure saw you in the arden/Asheville NC area yesterday! I was curious who else had a bad ass GTI in the area, but noticed Georgia plates? Was kind of let down but cool to see you!

[@TheParkingLotMechanic]

Dude, yes! I was there visiting friends! Love the area. Who knows, might move there one day ;)

[@wigler_]

Try to just blip the throttle instead of holding it. Hold the brake but only blip the throttle dont hold it.

[@wigler_]

and once you have that then its mostly knowing when to release your clutch at the right RPM

[@TheParkingLotMechanic]

That's what I was trying to work on. Honestly, reviewing the footage revealed a lot on what was wrong haha.