Well considering Dorian has never driven one, he isnt qualified to say anything
My mate came over yesterday in his manual, and I took it for a drive. He has had his longer than me, but only has 2000 miles on the clock, so nowhere near run in, whereas mine is almost at 7000. I definately agree that the more miles you have, the faster the car is, while his car felt fast, mine felt a lot more nimble and responsive.
It was nice to feel that behind the wheel of a manual the car did actually free pretty much the same (I noticed it has red lights for the extended redline rather than red and orange like on the SMG, I guess for the change up sequence). It was great fun being able to use manual again, and you do feel like you have that little bit more control, because you do.
SMG is great for every day driving, and fun fast driving down lanes, you are able to change gears effortlessly and give yourself a big grin each time. The BARK that has been mentioned is wonderful as well, but you can get that on a manual if you want to.
If I were a trackday driver, then I do not think I would get SMG, so I agree with Ian's comments.. for traffic SMG is a godsend, having the best of both worlds from an auto box.
It does take time to get used to driving the SMG, you have to work out how best to drive it to your driving style, and everyones is different. The seat position is also very important.
The change up lights I think are a nice idea, but in practise are pretty pointless, you spend more time watching the lights than you do the road, and if your driving it hard, it should be pretty obvious when you should best change up anyway... so its a gimick I think.