Shoes come between you and your car. Good ones feel like they don't. Purpose-made driving shoes with all manner of pretense and peacockishness have attempted to fill that space, with varying results. We stick to a few proven shoes that'll go wherever wherever our off-track inclinations take us, but never get in the way.Any ol' Nike running shoe. There might not be a better non-driving, driving shoe than your average pair of Nikes. Lightweight and advanced materials, highly engineered structures and sticky soles; there's more technology in a pair of modern Nike running shoes than there is in most of my cars. Kicks like these Nike Air Zoom Elite 7's are trim in all the right places, for easy footbox fiddling, padded where they ought to be for stabbing at heavy clutches and well-ventilated, so your feet are cool even when they're inches away from hot engines or transmissions. When it comes to comfort and performance in the car, good running shoes have few equals.Dainese Vera Cruz Moto Shoes
The Dainese Vera Cruz is a motorcycle shoe for casual, comfortable riding. It slays at that job, with a close fit, firm sole, and an integrated toe cap that keeps the shifter from tearing apart the top of your footwear. But forget its intent, the look of the Vera Cruz is pure driving shoe. A large, rockable heel and those thin lines make this lightweight contender as effective handling pedals as well as it does pegs.Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star No shoe has traveled more miles with me than my classic Chuck Taylor's. My Chucks are old, beat to hell, and dirtier than a teenage boy's search history. I'd be shocked if they had anything less than a hundred thousand miles, yet they're still kickin' along just fine. The classic basketball sole sticks to the pedals just like it sticks to the court, which makes up for the flexible canvas construction when your feet get busy in the footwell.Cole Haan Original Grand Penny Loafers Ayrton Senna was wearing simple loafers when he wrung the neck of an NSX at Suzuka in 1992.
The video of Senna's white-socked footwork is legendary. Cole Haan's modern update of the loafer combines classic looks and lightweight, comfortable Nike Lunarlon underpinnings. If the loafer was good enough for Senna, surely it's good enough for you. Another athletic legend, the Samba is the second best selling Adidas shoe. In production since 1950, the odds are good that not every Samba sees the soccer pitch. Mine certainly haven't, but they're more than competent dancing between three pedals. A good, firm sole and a sturdy leather upper responds well to firm clutch and brake pedals. 180 Gifts for Men, All Under $50 Must-See Cars from the 2017 Geneva Motor Show The World's First Smart Condom 12 Great Gifts from the Gear Patrol Store Toyota Announces Three New Sports Cars When the time calls for a spirited drive, you’re not always heading out to the track. You may simply be heading to “point B” when a backcountry road catches your eye on the GPS, or an empty canyon road gets the heart pumping a bit faster.
This is not the time to call in the Nomex overalls, gloves and FIA-rated fire proof driving boots. Yet proper footwear is still a must for throttle feathering and brake feel. Certain footwear like dress shoes or leather boots may look good when you get to your destination, but with stiff uppers and thick wide soles, you’ll be clumsily mashing the pedals. Shoes with good grip, a thin sole, and decent flex will let you dance the dance of heel-toe shifting a lot easier, so you can focus on keeping the car on the road. These six shoes let you enjoy a spirited drive and, upon exiting the cockpit, don’t hurt your style points either. With suede, leather laces and accents, Ralph Lauren adds class to a lightweight sneaker. Ralph Lauren Vaughn Suede Sneaker $79 A rounded heel and narrow toe box lend themselves nicely to cramped classic sports cars adorned with three pedals. Lonsdale Camden Trainers $33 Senna was a huge fan of loafers. Cole Haan Howland Penny $120
With a high ankle, thin sole and leather upper, Keds accidentally modernized Fangio’s footwear. Keds Vintage Roster High $60 The unique sole design is great for gripping the brake pedal while rolling over to blip the throttle on downshifts. Nike Free Trainer 5.0 V6 $100 A more casual take on the faultless loafer. Sperry Striper CVO Salt Washed Twill Sneaker $60If you think about it, shoes are a lot like steering wheels. They are what connects us to our cars and how we get the necessary feedback to be a good driver. By that logic, we as enthusiasts should be spending out extra dough on nicer steering wheels and top tier footwear. A steering wheel upgrade is a costly one but well worth it in my mind. It's the thing you touch more than any other part of your car aside from the pedals and nobody even sees those so what's the point? I kid, better pedals are a very smart upgrade, one I've made to many of my cars. But let's say you're just a fan of the occasional spirited drive.
You don't need a flat bottomed wheel, wrapped in alcantara and thicker than Rob Ford's finger. You don't need lightweight precision milled pedals with more grip than the Koch Brothers have on congress. What you need is proper footwear to make your weekend jaunts all the more pleasurable. No you don't need to go out and buy some $300 driving loafers. Nor should you ever consider buying co-branded footwear that matches your vehicle. If you have need of such footwear I'm going to assume you're a sponsored driver and should have such things provided free of charge.All you need is a pair of shoes, maybe a couple, that are comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, allow for some ventilation and of course, look good when you're not driving. This part is key because the one thing that no man should still be fucking up in this day and age is his choice of footwear. Doug gets a free pass because his sandals are part of his on camera schtick. Besides, I doubt he actually drives the Ferrari in those things.
So without further fluff, here are the five best driving shoes you can buy right now. Would love to know what your choices are and if you agree with my picks. So have fun with the commenting after all, this is Oppo. 1.) Vans Sk8-Hi Slim- Don't be put off by Vans categorizing these as "Womens". The Sk8-Hi that they'd been passing off as "the original" had grown quite chunky and frankly not fun to wear while driving, let alone skateboarding. They've now rectified the problem with this slimmer model that's much closer to classic shoe that so many of us know and love. At $55 you can get a couple pairs without breaking a sweat and you might want to given their popularity. 2.) Nike Free 5.0- These have been my go to shoe for more spirited driving since they came out. Just the right amount of support and flex. They're well ventilated and the perfect width for heel/toeing. At $115 they're a little bit more on the spendy side but one pair will last you a long time, especially if you're just wearing them while driving.