This is one of my pet peeves. Sometimes I use left foot braking to transfer chassis weight from one side to tve other. Having a throttle cut off sucks. I won't buy a car with it anymore.
I can't think of any situation outside of a race course where this would be a necessary maneuver. If you're going so fast on public roads where you need to left foot brake to transfer weight to avoid skidding off the road, it sounds like something is wrong. Where are you doing this enough where having a car with throttle cut off is enough of an annoyance where you won't buy a car with it anymore?
For reference, I got pretty good at this technique while driving autox, which for those unfamiliar is basically a race course around cones in a giant stadium parking lot, one car at a time. But in my 10 years of driving on public roads, I've never felt the need to use it even once.
Different driving styles. I focus on safe driving. Being able to transfer weight around bad bumpy roads helps me drive safe. Roads are not great in Puerto Rico and I drive a FWD car.
Edit: Downvotes? For driving safely on shitty roads? I hope people don't assume Im being a jackass driver just because I use my left foot.
Could you give a specific example of how this makes you safer? I really don't understand how braking could cause an appreciable weight transfer at speeds I consider appropriate for "bad bumpy roads".
I have never been to Puerto Rico, but in Nicaragua and Honduras is highly advantageous for your health and safety to flow with the rest of traffic. He is completely right, this comes in handy because so many roads (especially in mountain areas) are very inconsistent and messy.
I'm not downvoting you, but I disagree with your line of reasoning.
Just because YOU don't see why a feature might be useful does not mean that it isn't useful. It just means you don't see a use for it.
Similarly, while cutting the fuel on break application might be useful or even beneficial in the case of a normal / particularly bad driver (slamming down all the peddles in an emergency) it does mean a drastic change in the human/machine interface. I would say that just like ABS is a good safety feature and airbags / restraint belts are good safety features, the vehicle should CLEARLY MARK these features. Their automation may (EG as in the cases of baby seats) be counter-intuitively less safe in circumstances.
I agree. It's also incredibly difficult for those who haven't practiced as you have. The few times I have tried it (in safe conditions) I have ended up braking far too hard. My left foot somehow doesn't have the "feeling" of my right foot on the pedal.
One racing driver technique that can be useful in normal conditions (in a manual) is heel-and-toe braking. I use it to avoid excessive engine braking while downshifting, and sometimes for hill starts without using the handbrake.
It's much safer if that how you learned to drive from day one. Unfortunately most existing drivers don't have the skills to safely left-foot brake so that's how we teach new drivers.
You are right! Its not a common skill. Im left handed so left foot breaking feels natural to me. Plus I drove manual cars for years and am used to feel the clutch/brake bite with the left foot.
It doesn't take long to get smooth with a left foot.
Also left foot braking is much more useful day to day than heel-toe. Especially if you ever deal with suboptimal traction. Plus, faster reaction times.
Heel-toe is also dependant on the pedal placement and clutch weight. But I don't see it being useful in day to day. Rev matching is not something you do on daily driving. You usually tend to short shift at lower rpm.
