395
Can you drive a manual transmission? (lemm.ee)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
619 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

And where are you from? And how old? Not "do you" but just if you know how.

I'm in the US, mid 30s and can (and do) drive a manual transmission.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 0 points 3 years ago (6 children)

honestly i don't understand what makes them better for racing. can the auto not be tuned differently to prioritize speed and acceleration over fuel efficiency?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)

    Automatic gearboxes can’t predict the road ahead, they can only react to the current RPM and speed.

    Edit: just realised this posted on a completely different comment to the one I was replying to

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    It's not just about speed and acceleration. It's also about control. Racing drivers face an infinite number of different conditions out on the track and it would be impossible to tune the transmission in such a way that it does exactly what the driver wants 100% of the time. And it really has to be perfect. 99.9% isn't good enough because the other 0.1% can wreck the car if it does something unexpected while driving at the limit.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Modern, high end race cars are automatics. Low end or lighter cars will be manual.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (2 children)

    Modern, high end race cars are automatics.

    No, they're sequential manuals*. Unless you're talking about drag racing, where automatics are common.

    *Edit: Or they can also be sequential semi-automatics if you want to be extra pedantic. But personally I'd classify a transmission based on whether the driver has to select the desired gear, or if the computer selects the appropriate gear without driver input, because that's the thing that matters in the end.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •