I've been driving the F in manual the last few days and I'm a total noob, so I would appreciate if someone could tell me when and how to shift?
Upshifting is pretty easy but when coming to a red light always causes problems. I've noticed that the car drops gears by itself, but how and when do I drop gears without the violent jerks? When coming to a stop the car jerks 2-3 times than comes to a full stop? So I dont want to look like a total jacka** driving around this way, so if someone can take the time and tell me how to properly shift, it would be much appreciated.

 

Well... upshifting... I don't shift until hearing a "BLEEEEP"

Downshifting... I usually keep a lil gas going when downshifting it prevents the jerk... especially from 2nd to 1st...

and make sure its in manual mode too!

 

Are you having problems shifting on the F? That's weird, have you ever driven a manual car? It's the same thing but without the clutch, you wouldn't downshift on a manual to 2nd going at 100 MPH, would you? I think you're going too hot on every downshift, that's why the car jerks.
Play it safe and drive it fully auto, it's almost as fast. It sounds like you're not ready to do your own shifting.

 

I concur. The F's transmission is a bit expensive to be experimenting with... so unless you're fully confident in your skills I'd advise against downshifting.

 

If I am paddle shifing in "M mode" and coming to a red light or stop, I allow the tranny to naturally down shift, from whatever gear I was in..

It doesn't matter if your going fast or slow, it will do it cleaner for you...

I do manually down shift at times, to make things a bit more fun..

Now once the light turns Green, 1st Gear is Ready!!

 

I thought F manual shifting is almost full manual, why does it still downshift automatically?

 

To avoid stalling. This behavior is standard on all cars featuring an auto or dual clutch tranny, and in manual trannies you'd need to depress the clutch.