Ragingly personal opinion:
I don't derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from pulling a perfect shift.
Anything that can do a better job than my left foot and right hand can at ensuring that I'm in the gear I want to be in, when I want to be there, so that I can get through the corner a little quicker (from which I do get a great deal of personal satisfaction) gets my vote.
Even a traditional hydraulically-coupled planetary automatic transmissions can do a damn good job, if the engine is packing a whole lot of torque to overcome the losses inherent in the gearbox. Some of the recent electronically-controlled automatics are frustrating as all hell, though, because despite their tiptronic/pushbutton controls, they still try to outsmart the driver.
With an automatic, when I pull the lever down for a downshift, I want a downshift now, not a second or two later. When I stand on the gas, I want a gear (or two) downshift before the pedal stops moving.
Most modern automatics are compromised too far in favor of (a) protecting themselves and (b) smoothness to get it right.
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