Just have a friend teach you. Took me about 2-3 days to get the hang of it and I taught one of my friends in 10 minutes. The hardest part is getting the car moving. Once you have that down, the rest is a peice of cake.

 

If you have somebody with an old manual car, then it's easier. People may give you some reservation if they had a newer car. I learned from my father driving an old '85 Prelude. I remembered the car kept jumping and stalling and I got so frustrated. The hardest part to learn was the to get the car moving initially. I normally let go of the clutch 1/3-1/2 way (depending on how your clutch is setup), then start on the gas for first gear. The rest of the gears, I usually give a little gas before I let go of the clutch. I do not leave my left foot on the clutch until I need to change gear. It just take practice. You will know how much clutch you can let go before the engine stall on you. Anybody does it differently from me???? It would be interesting to see the different techniques. Anyhow, I love it now. It's just so much more fun and control with it. My wife just doesn't get it. She hates manual.

 

You shoulda tried a search first but I think by far the most important thing is finding the engagement point of the clutch. It may be helpful to ask some of the guys who got their MTs already about where the clutch takes up. You're blessed in that the Z has a light clutch, unlike many sports cars which have stiff clutches. Practice in a parking lot by just finding where the car juuuust starts to roll using only the clutch, no gas. You have to let up real slow so you figure out where the point of engagement is. After you figure this out, then you start applying a little bit of gas. After learnign this, then the other gears are a snap. It's just something you need to learn on your own. By the way, driving schools usually don't have manual cars in their inventories anymore, so you usually have find a friend's car to learn on, although I don't think it would be so hard to learn on the Z...

 

In the Motorcycle Safety Course I took they taught us to do it in a couple steps. Find an area free of traffic and distractions and turn off the radio so you can hear the engine. First, just slowly engage the clutch(release the pedal) while in first gear, and listen to the engine. At a dertain point, when the clutch starts to engage, you will hear/see the rpms start to drop, and you might creep forward slighty. Try this a few times, trying to get a feel for the friction point, but dont let the clutch out all the way. After you have done this a few times, let the clutcho out to the point where it begins to grab, then give it a little bit of gas to keep the rpms up, then, slowly, completely engage the clutch while giving it a more gas, keeping the rpms up.

Like the other people said, starting from a complete stop is the hard part, changing gears while you are moving is pretty easy. I have used this method on a couple of friends cars, and haven't had any trouble, even though I haven't driven a manual trasmission (other than my motorcycle) in many years. The Z also has a really forgiving clutch (IMO) and a lot of low end torque, which seems to make it pretty easy. I plan to teach my grilfriend how to drive a manual on the Z.

You will need to practice on some hills as well, as this method above won't work, because it is too slow, but it will theach you where the friction point is on the car. While you are learning, or if you feel like you might roll into the person behind you, you can always use your e-brake to keep you from rolling backwards on a hill, then release it as you feel the clutch engage.

 

I'm still new to manual.... you just need to get a feel of the shift lever, clutch pedal, and the feel of the car.

I've learned in a 99 Prelude SH, Integra LS, Civic, RX-7, and a Z32 TT.

My favorite of the bunch? The Z32 TT. Why? It's the only car I haven't killed during practice.

The "weaker" motors... harder to practice and I have to do the coordination with the clutch and gas pedal.

The strong torque in the Z32... clutch was super forgiving. Release to point the car moves slowly without dying.... and it has more range so less guesswork. Give it some gas, and your off!
This car was by far the easiest of the bunch. It felt like a dream!