MTB (racing) shoes are stiff but heavier than road shoes.
You need to fairly good at balancing before going clipless to avoid falling over. Falling over seems to be a regular feature of the learning curve for clipless.
A lot of clipless riders converted from toe clips and were already very competant. If you are a newbie you need to have good control before clipping in. You also need this with toe clips if you chose to cinch them tight in the style of a traditinal racer. If you use them in touring/commuting mode, with lose straps you lose a bit of efficiency and gain some safety.