Quote:
Originally Posted by strohw
I'm curious how many people here who say they want a manual actually track their cars.
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I don't track my cars anymore. Just don't have the time. But when I did, it was always a stick BMW. Now I won't have anything but a stick for my daily driver but then I live in an area where it is still fun to drive every day.
I had the opportunity a few years back to do the BMW M-Performance 2-Day Advanced Driving School at VIR for a
Roundel article. We had both SMG and 3-pedal M3s from which to choose. At the end of Day One I'd had lots of track time in both in their lead-follow format. At the end of one session the instructor came over to my car to tell what a good session that had been and noticed I was in a 3-pedal car. He expressed surprise and told me that as smooth as my transitions were, he figured I was in an SMG. That brought on a discussion about which he and the other professional drivers actually preferred, which was overwhelmingly the 3-pedal car. Granted this was in the days of SMG, not DCT, or hot-rodded Steptronics masquerading as DCT that we have now. But I took the point that even the pros enjoy a good stick-shift.
At the end of the second day I was getting a bit tired and switched to the SMG for the last session. It was more relaxing, and far less challenging. At that point I was ready for that driving style. So there is room for both!