Drive consisted of him taking us up to quiet industrial estate in Cramlington, pulled over then we swapped over, gave me a quick run through of all the controls and we set off for a quick loop around the industrial estate, i struggled quite a bit with the gears, mainly due to the block changing and i think the gearbox felt a little stiff making it hard to find the gears at times, once we had come back round to where we started he just directed me back towards the training centre, letting me drive the whole 9 miles back via the A1
, although once we were heading back the gears did start to click in my head.
It’s a bit concerning that the gears were “stiff”. Shouldn’t be the case. It’s also a bit of a surprise that you’re considering a manual when a pass on auto is easier. (Before everyone starts, yes I’m very well aware of the contra argument - but that doesn’t help a newbie pass a test).
Back at the training centre, we parked up and he gave me his assessment, i have picked up a lot of bad habits in my 11 years driving, namely mirror checks, blind spot checks, and the dreaded crossing the hand while steering,
The faults you list are perfectly normal. But don’t worry about hand crossing. It’s irrelevant for purposes of a test - - provided there is no loss of control. This is generally caused by releasing the wheel to allow it to self - centre.
All the best with it, Pete 