Many moons ago on holiday with my folks on Barbados in the Caribbean a local rental outfit had a collection of old Oz MiniMokes available. Planning on a month's trip to Kiwiland the following October and wanting to drive a manual there, I decided to tool around the Island in a beat-up RHD Moke. Of course pedal configuration was the same but a mirror-image of gear selection was expected. Wrong. It was simply a task of envisioning the shifter in space and changing gears in the normal manner using the left instead of the right hand. But turning on the wipers when you wanted to signal a turn always takes some getting used to. And roundabouts (circles) or wide turns aren't problematic if you just simulate behavior in your head, remembering where you are, before executing your moves. Personally, I still find this fun.
Yes, if you have developed a 'relative' position patten in your head, it takes a while to adjust.
The secret is to have an absolute position pattern in your head - you know that first gear is up and to the left - and your brain is able to operate your hands accordingly. Same as how you learn where the cupboards are in a kitchen and can open them no matter where you are standing - you have an absolute mental map of the kitchen.
It's probably because driving is a stationary activity that the brain develops a relative map (move right hand this direction) rather an absolute (first gear is over there)
