It is a case of different modes for different situations. On the highway or in town I use D pretty much all of the time. Where I use DS and M is on the really twisty back roads. Using D on this type of road makes the X sluggish and slow out of corners - you often are around the corner before the box downshifts. DS is quite good at holding the lower gears longer meaning that you can often have the right gear for the corner. However I normally find myself wanting to play and so I end up using manual mode - sometimes to ensure the downshift, but also to short-shift on the way up to preserve some economy where needed.

As for using the joystick - it feels almost (but not quite) like using a sequential race box.

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StumpyPete



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