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[McTraveller]

Most of those "manual mode automatics" are terrible.  My wife's car has it, and there is a terrible lag as the transmission computer tries to figure out what I requested. I think it's because automatic transmissions are just fundamentally sluggish when shifting due to torque converters and other nonsense instead of a nice simple friction clutch.

There are a few cars that are true "automatic manuals" in that they have what amounts to a manual gearbox and clutch, just with actuators that can shift way faster than a human, and usually come with F-1 style paddle shifters.  Those cars tend to be extremely expensive though.

[Rolan7]

One of the cars had a most unusual addition, the purpose of which is lost on me. You could push the stick over, and treat your automatic transmission like a manual. Almost caused an accident on the test drive because I didn't know that was a thing.

Hehe, a young friend of mine had a car like that, and he thought that meant he could operate my manual transmission.

His car broke down one day, and I offered to loan him mine.  Once it became clear he had never operated a clutch pedal in his life, and my best explanation wasn't exactly sticking for him, we agreed explore other options without leaving the parking lot.

[Frumple]

Most of those "manual mode automatics" are terrible.  My wife's car has it, and there is a terrible lag as the transmission computer tries to figure out what I requested. I think it's because automatic transmissions are just fundamentally sluggish when shifting due to torque converters and other nonsense instead of a nice simple friction clutch.

From what I understand that's just flatly untrue these days, actually? Apparently they got autos transitioning as well or better than manuals (especially in the case of most and most drivers) a good few years back.

More likely the extra showoff thing just doesn't work that well 'cause it's there for display more than function

[Lord Shonus]

Modern automatic transmissions are superior to manuals in every way - more efficient, faster responding, and even cheaper to make.

[MrRoboto75]

Yeah the modern CVT is great for efficiency, though a lot of it is wasted by simulating gear shifts, because consumers expect gear shifts in cars.

Although the Shift-Yourself "sport mode" they do is a complete waste of time.  The car will still auto-shift when it "needs" to anyway, there's no real benefit to shifting yourself other than pure whimsy.

[methylatedspirit]

Modern automatic transmissions are superior to manuals in every way - more efficient, faster responding, and even cheaper to make.

But how else will you get absolute control over the car? That's a common argument for manual transmissions.

I see a common thread with computers, too, this notion of 'absolute control'; that's why people use Arch, operate within the command-line exclusively, and program in C or assembly. Not sure why it keeps showing up. Even when it's inefficient-- C compilers optimize the everloving hell out of code on modern systems, because a direct translation is actually really inefficient for computers of today. Your computer is not a fast PDP-11.

[MaxTheFox]

Spoiler: How can you be so dumb? (I am Pulsarspawn) (click to show/hide)

Guess I condone war, imperialism, and genocide because I played a game that included those? I'm also a miner IRL because I play Minecraft.

[George_Chickens]

Spoiler: How can you be so dumb? (I am Pulsarspawn) (click to show/hide)

Guess I condone war, imperialism, and genocide because I played a game that included those? I'm also a miner IRL because I play Minecraft.

IF THEY DIE IN THE GAME
THEY DIE IN REAL LIFE

[King Zultan]

Spoiler: How can you be so dumb? (I am Pulsarspawn) (click to show/hide)

Guess I condone war, imperialism, and genocide because I played a game that included those? I'm also a miner IRL because I play Minecraft.

IF THEY DIE IN THE GAME
THEY DIE IN REAL LIFE

Virtual people are real people!

[George_Chickens]

Spoiler: How can you be so dumb? (I am Pulsarspawn) (click to show/hide)

Guess I condone war, imperialism, and genocide because I played a game that included those? I'm also a miner IRL because I play Minecraft.

IF THEY DIE IN THE GAME
THEY DIE IN REAL LIFE

Virtual people are real people!

Games are bad, they make you mad!

[Kagus]

Spoiler: How can you be so dumb? (I am Pulsarspawn) (click to show/hide)

Guess I condone war, imperialism, and genocide because I played a game that included those? I'm also a miner IRL because I play Minecraft.

IF THEY DIE IN THE GAME
THEY DIE IN REAL LIFE

Virtual people are real people!

Games are bad, they make you mad!

Violent video games don't cause violence.

Paradox allied AI causes violence.

[Mathel]

Paradox games' random events cause paradoxes.
Humans cause violence.
Humans also cause video games.

[Damiac]

Modern automatic transmissions are superior to manuals in every way - more efficient, faster responding, and even cheaper to make.

For normal street driving this is true. If you're trying to manipulate torque for weird stuff like drifting it's good to be able to downshift at will, but that's not a typical use case.

The absolute control thing is certainly part of it, after all, automatic systems can and do fail. Personally I don't need another thing to keep track of while driving, so I prefer automatics, but I get it.

And MathAndCode there is wrong. You're a war criminal just for playing video games period. How many innocent goombas have you squished?

[Naturegirl1999]

Aren’t the good as soldiers though? Yes crushing them is overkill

[Damiac]

Aren’t the good as soldiers though? Yes crushing them is overkill

Soldiers? They're just hanging out in their nice grassy home, then suddenly a wild plumber appears, steals their coins, mushrooms, flowers, and stars, looking for a princess that isn't even there, and kills everyone he encounters!

At least, that applies in SMB 1. I guess the koopas were the aggressors in mario 64, but at that point it's just a cycle of revenge.

No, I'm not serious.