“The only people who ask for manual gearboxes are two or three diehard British car journalists,” said Nicola Boari, the head of product marketing at Ferrari. Ferrari stopped selling sticks in 2011. (The last car it delivered with a manual gearbox was a 599 GTB Fiorano, but the last model commercially available with a manual gearbox was the Ferrari California.)

“It’s analogue in a digital world,” agreed Aston Martin communications manager Matthew Clarke, though Aston does make some of its cars with manual options. More on that later.

Bentley last offered a manual R-Type Continental way back in 1952-55—and that was as an option. Lambo stopped making it with the last of the Gallardos. Rolls-Royce never made one in the modern era. Bugatti never did, either. For them, it’s not about the money. Forget the development cost—even if you can afford to buy a $300,000 coupe, you won’t be able to find one with a stick shift because it doesn’t hold up, performance-wise, for these high-power machines. In terms of eliciting the most extreme performance, human beings just can’t compete with the precision of a computer.

“We develop our cars to have class-leading levels of performance, grip, and handling,” Boari said. “For the technological level of integration our cars offer, a manual gearbox would reduce the performance capabilities—which, for Ferrari, is unacceptable.”

There’s a Serious Speed Differential

The difference in time between laps done on a stick shift versus on a paddle shift can be full seconds; over the course of a day, that distance adds up considerably.

This is nothing new. It’s worth remembering that Ferrari was the one that actually invented the F1-style, steering-wheel-mounted paddle shift decades ago. The paddles meant drivers no longer had to take their hands off the steering wheel in order to go faster, which allowed them to concentrate more on driving—and which removed the element of driver error in missing gears when braking and cornering. It made everything in F1 faster and less fatiguing. (The same applies to the production-level whip you take to the track every weekend.)

For modern sports cars, dynamically integrated systems that include ABS, electronic differential, traction control, magnetic suspension damping, slip control, active aerodynamics, and engine and gearbox management interact directly with the paddle shifters. So when you have a massive V10 or V12-engined supercar, the prospect of managing all of that to perfect control and performance requires a computer, to say the least.

“Our cars are about effortless driving, and having a stick shift doesn’t aid that,” said Brett Boydell, Bentley’s head of interior design. He said Bentley customers haven’t even inquired about a stick shift option for decades. “The thinking from a powertrain perspective is that for quite some time Bentley has been focused on performance and luxury. Luxury is being able to keep ahold of the steering wheel, to stay in control. Drivers are better able to do that with an automatic transmission.”

If You Insist on a Manual