Of course, that goes without saying, but in the context of using a clutch and gearlever, it is an entirely different skill, that must be blended seamlessly into the car handling, and if done correctly will increase the satisfaction to be gained.
One must always be in the right gear at the right time, which must be thought about, whilst the auto will do that, well, automatically, as well as being able to perform the actual physical movements required to mesh cogs either up or down the box, see what I mean?
I really cannot see there is any satisfaction to be gained changing up or down with an auto box in manual mode, I do it out of necessity, not because I want to, for example drop a cog to descend a steep hill, or to overtake, where as it is just sheer unadulterated fun to change down the box for a corner using heel and toe, getting the revs just right for the lower gear, whilst braking hard at the same time, and being abler to modulate the brake pedal to get exactly the right pressure. That is a skill that takes a lifetime of practice to perfect.
