Driving an Auto

[Paul 442]

Ok, so here's a rather embarrassing revelation, I have no idea how to drive an automatic transmission.

I've only driven an auto twice. The first time was 20 mins in a  Lamborghini Gallardo and I was far more focused on not crashing into a ditch than learning how to drive the damn car. Second time was the RRG Macclesfield Yaris which I drove pretty much like a go-kart, ignoring the paddles entirely.

So why is this relevant?

On Friday I'm doing a Supercar day at Dunsfold which involved driving some pretty serious machinery, most of which have automatic transmissions (or flappy paddle gearboxes, which I'm pretty sure are the same thing?!). To get the most out of it I'd really like to have a bit more understanding of how to change up and down myself, how to read the car etc. Mostly I'm curious about whether I need to do anything with the throttle as I change up or down, obviously as a manual drive my instinct is to pull off the throttle when changing gears but I'm not sure how that works when changing up/down manually in an auto?

Be really grateful for any tips people can give me.

[McDude 40]

Just forget you have a left foot! Unless you’re confident left foot braking. 

Bury your right foot as much as traction will allow and don’t lift during paddle or automated gear changes up and down the box.  You’ll only make changes jerky and make the car unstable. Doesn’t matter if they are slush boxes, single or dual clutch, the engine management will sort it all out.

It really is a piece of p1ss and you have nothing to worry about. 

[Paul 442]

1 minute ago, McDude said:

Just forget you have a left foot! Unless you’re confident left foot braking. 

Bury your right foot as much as traction will allow and don’t lift during paddle or automated gear changes up and down the box.  You’ll only make changes jerky and make the car unstable. Doesn’t matter if they are slush boxes, single or dual clutch, the engine management will sort it all out.

It really is a piece of p1ss and you have nothing to worry about. 

Thanks, really appreciate the response. Knew I was probably overthinking it but given the cars involved figured it was better to ask!

[kaisersalsek 47]

Yes you’re overthinking it 😂 don’t pull off changing gears. Weird, I never even thought of doing that in my auto but do it obviously instinctively in my manual

[Lauren 2259]

Driving automatics (i.e. proper autos with torque converters) it does ease things if you lift off slightly when changing up. This was the case when I had the auto Yaris  as I only drove it with the flappy paddles. Certainly on those cars with an automated manual if you drive any you will need to lift on the up change. On cars with dual clutch transmissions there is less of a reason to lift, but your mileage may vary. Obviously changing down you won't be the on the throttle of course. I would expect them all to rev match. 

[VAD17 479]

I drive auto GT86.
In full auto no need to lift off, although if you can do left foot braking (which I am struggling with, at least so far ) understeering in corners much easier to deal with.
With paddle shifters I don't lift either but in GT 86 in slower corners lower gears and higher revs is important (at Brands I ended up few times in higher gear than I should have).


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[Test Drives Unlimited 278]

I drive an Automatic on the road and on the track and just leave the car in 'D' and let the gearbox work it all out.

On the track I stick the car into 'Sport D' and the gearbox rarely gets it wrong and hardly ever use the Paddles.

Modern Automatic Gearboxes are really good now a days and in some cases are far better than Manuals.

I certainly don't miss driving a Manual Gearbox !

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[Rich 378]

I used to have a dual clutch automatic. In a dual clutch you shouldn't lift off, just keep your foot in or you'll destabilise the car. The gear change is so fast you won't be able to react quickly enough anyway (8 ms is typical for a predicted shift).
In mine at least the engine management would also upshift at the redline, so if you just hoofed it in manual mode it would give you a pretty good launch even if you didn't do anything.
Also when downshifting multiple gears it's worth your while just clicking through them as fast as possible so the gearbox knows what you want and doesn't try to select an intermediate gear unnecessarily.
Also be aware that if you're shifting more than one gear, or catch the prediction out the shift will take around half a second, so it is possible to outwit it sometimes.