I'm a total amateur but have had manuals and sports cars all my life, so, just by sheer amount of time spent driving with them, I _do_ know what people are talking about when they say "connected to the car and the road" with a manual.

After having the SMG in my BMW for a couple of years I find that same connection to the road when I want to get frisky. I mean knowing when the hit the paddles when to brake, when to upshift, it's like a higher power thinking though and I'm able to enjoy another level of the driving fast experience.

It's not a mindless video game thing by any means. The car does what you tell it to do (lightning fast and rev-matched) and after a while you understand how the software will react to your input and you can get even more out of it.

It's a "higher order" one-touch make-it-so type of interface and less monkey-arm-leg jamming thing.

my $.02