I couldn't help noticing that just about everyone was opting for manual transmission. I'm just curious, with all the stress on "realism", why is this when the pros use automatics?

...err the pros don't?

All modern WRC cars have large paddle shifters as well as a floor shifter as a backup.

I've heard the WRC uses something referred to as a "Manumatic". It's auto but the driver has the option to shift. I could be wrong, probably am, but I've seen plenty of in-car videos where the shifter moves on its own. Also have seen plenty of videos where the driver is shifting.

Google is your best friend when looking for info -

Here's a quote from another site, took a lot of digging in google to find even this much info on the gearboxes -

"Flooredsubaru 05-17-2003, 10:24 PM

they use a Prodrive 6-speed electro-hydraulic transmission.
In the "Impreza Story" video put out by Duke Video they talk about the transmission basicly they say you can buy yourself 2 WRX STI for the price of the transmission.
It is a siquenclly operated transmission, that the drivers can shift with the "paddles" on the back of the steering wheel similar to how the F1 cars shift.

Tifosi77 06-04-2003, 03:33 PM

actually the S8 trans was not a sequential but a hydraulicly actuated h pattern gear box thoough it is easy to confuse because it is paddle operated and acts like a sequential. For example when other cars spin or have to use revers you will notice that they have to flick down through the gears before they find reverse, in the Subaru Petter or Tommi only has to push a button on the steering wheel because the gears are not sequential and instantly choose reverse. The system is quite advanced."

And this bit from another site (bad writing is original) -

"Change gear is another topic of conversation. Six or five speed gearboxes are used on modern WRC cars. Steps switches with the help of rings and buttons that are placed on the steering wheel hub. To make sure there is a traditional stick shift - for the case of electronics breakdown it can help to carry out an emergency control of the sequential manual gearbox. For switching steps it is needed about 35-50 milliseconds that is in several times faster than on common automobiles.
The gear box is changed on average two times per race on each car. Centre and front differentials are located in the same block with it. "

Yet a bit more from yet another site -

"05-16-2003, 03:32 PM
Yes they still have a clutch. The clutch only needs to be used when coming to a complete stop. Once the car is moving they use the paddle, ring, or stalk shifters to go through the gears in the sequential transmissions.

11-18-2003, 02:26 PM
The SWRT transmission built by Prodrive is $90,000. It is a semi automatic, it is not a seqential gearbox because there is no torque converter. All the clutch movements and gear shifting is done by hydraulics, but you can use it just like a normal manual transmission because there is a shifter with an H gate and a clutch pedal. Technically if you attached your shifter and clutch lines to hydraulics you could achieve the same effect with electronic triggering."

Thanks for digging Chip! It straightens things out in my mind a little more.

Notice the dates on the quoted posts - they are a few years old. In fact, everything I found was at least a few years old.

The transmissions are manually actuated clutchless systems. They only use the clutch for starts and on hairpin corners. The newest shifters are a large single paddle that they push forward to downshift and pull for upshifts. The gear lever on the floor moves with each shift and can be used as a backup.

If you are new to RBR I would highly recommend driving in auto mode a few times. The shift points are very different than most race cars, so seeing what is optimum may be beneficial. The engines are tuned to to develop maximum torque at relatively low revs.

The auto mode in the game is very good, but I like to shift on my own to use the gears/diff to help balance the car.

if i might add, using auto is going to cost you time if you get off track an have to use reverse. but at the same time, with all the gear changing, auto is very useful, allowing you to concentrate on where you should be going