[robomartin]

> Porsche Driving Instructor for 5 years with thousands of hours in the passenger seat.

I agree with all your points. I have lots of track experience and training with a range of cars, including Porsche and one of my favorite "no pucker factor" cars, track-modified BRZ. In fact, next year I am hoping to go to Formula 3 training [0].

That said, for street and lots of track driving, I think the manual (stick shift) transmission is simple, brilliant and can be used to develop skills and understanding. The other aspect of these transmissions is that they are simple and inexpensive to maintain and repair. Their next generation computer-controlled dual clutch manuals are fantastic, of course. However, I really think full manuals still have a lot of value.

You might appreciate that I have taken all of my kids through race driving school as a requirement --at least by my standards-- for being safe street drivers. They've spent a good deal of time at both Willow Springs Raceway and the local Porsche Experience Center learning and doing fun things with cars.

Nothing like being on track behind a car driven by your kid, seeing him come out of a 120 mph sweeper sideways (because another driver made a mistake in front of him and he had to react) and then watch him instantly correct the situation to conclude: Yeah, he can drive. It also removed any desire in them to go fast on the street and do stupid things with cars.

[0] https://simracewaydrivingschool.com/programs-experiences/rac...

[RickHull]

> It also removed any desire in them to go fast on the street and do stupid things with cars.

This is one of the most important principles, akin to running away from a fight given martial arts training.

[robomartin]

> akin to running away from a fight given martial arts training.

Never thought of it that way at all, but, yes, you are right.

I am of the belief that our approach to educating young drivers is nothing short of an accident factory. They actually come out thinking they can drive.

I still remember our last experience with that. They had to do 6 hours with an "instructor" and then complete 50 hours with an adult licensed driver.

The six hour course was, from my perspective, almost a joke. Sure, they get to experience and learn rules of the road in practice and that has value. The problem is that after only six hours with an instructor who, venture a guess, can't really drive, they get dropped on their head to rely on the nearest licensed adult --who also can't drive-- to learn.

One of the first things I have always done when teaching someone to drive is to immediately explore the extremes. That means, at the very least, full throttle acceleration, full-hard braking and rapid lane changes. Dry and wet if conditions allow. Of course, there's a progression to this, but we certainly get there within a couple of hours or less and practice over many days.

I remember a family friend who broke out crying when I told her to press the accelerator all the way and hold it there until I said to release it. To be clear, she was crying before we ran the test...in a minivan. After calming things down, she agree to do it. The reaction was typical "Oh, that wasn't so bad at all". Too many Hollywood movies.

Braking is another one. Most people never brake hard until they have that first accident or near have one. When I show them what full braking means, they are always blown away by how hard a car can brake without disintegrating. When I tell them "brake as hard as you can", they think they are, but they rarely get there. I often have to say something like "really stomp on it this time" after the first attempt. Again, perspective changing in many ways.

And then there's the lane changing. We start slow and progress to "as violently as you can" on dry pavement. This, too, blows people away. Once they have good control I put them in a sports car and repeat the drill. Disbelief describes what they experience.

After that, I try to get them on a racetrack to gain a better understanding of vehicle dynamics and, if a wet skid-pad is available, all the things you can do there.

Over the years several of my small group of (friends and family) students have come back to me to tell me how they were able to avoid having an accident due to one or more of the drills I put them through when they were learning. That's always cool to hear.

Driver training doesn't come close to making safe drivers at all. Not to go too far, this morning, around 3 AM, someone died on the south-bound 5. I was raining. The story so far is that the guy got on the freeway, changed lanes, lost control, slammed into the center divider, bounced off and then crashed into a passing car...killing that driver of that car. Did not need to happen.