I don't know what you guys are talking about. "Heel/toe" downshifting does not literally mean you use your heel. Maybe on non-performance cars or older cars where this technique was not widely used and they spaced the pedals too far apart and you have no choice. Every modern sports car I've owned (except the Evo X) has had the pedals properly spaced to where an average person can easily bridge the brake and gas with the inside and outside edge of his foot.
"...'heel-and-toe" is a misnomer. It actually involves the ball of your foot and the side of your foot."
Full article here:
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/how...2/article.html
Oh, and since someone is going to say Edmunds writers are not pro drivers, watch this:
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/F...mall_57431.htm
If you take "heel/toe" literally and use your heel on the brake, you cannot properly modulate your braking force since you are then using the less precise muscles in your thigh versus the smaller, more progressive ones in your calf and foot. Conversely, if you are using your toe on the brake and your heel to blip the gas, then you must be a contortionist, have really short legs, or be sitting wall back from the wheel, which is not possible in the X since the damn wheel doesn't telescope.
If you learned to actually use your heel and it works for you, then great...but it is not the preferred, modern technique and it much harder to pull off well.
What he said is CW, but you misquoted him. With your arms fully extended, the wheel should
cut your wrists. This gives you the leverage to turn the wheel without leaning forward to remove your shoulders from the bolsters