[8695Beaters]

The autos I was talking about are the DSG transmissions. They use two clutches and the good ones are faster than any true manual. This is what F1 cars (and now IRL) use. In fact Keichi Tsuchiya (I hope I spelled that right. He's the original drift king in Japan and has also raced in the JGTC series) said that the new Evo's DSG is so good, that he left it in auto mode because it shifted exactly where he would have and could do it faster and more consistently than him.

However the regular slushbox autos are not like this. They can frop more torque on a dragstrip, but they do not belong on the road course or rally course. The fact is, without the positive engagement of a mechanical device, an auto is just not an effective tool for road racing. You can't hold a gear, engine brake, or give minute throttle inputs, all of which are needed to drive fast cars quickly. Well you can do all that, but all of those inputs are dulled. For example, off the line, my Integra can actually beat any mildly built muscle car. Once I hit second gear, I get overtaken, becuase of their extra horsepower and because their autos hold RPMs slightly better. However if I was able to pull of a clutchless shift, I would get much faster (that will take some practice, but it can be done). In rallying, slugish inputs will put you into a tree or a ditch in no time.