Question

Does anyone think that professional motorsports has gotten too easy for the drivers?

I ask this in relation to the cars.

I'm watching WRC right now and to be honest I haven't watched it in about 6 years. I noticed that they are using paddle shifters which I know they've used for a long time, but it got me thinking that it would be more interesting if they went back to good old manual transmission to make it more skillful.

I don't watch much professional motorsports anymore because I've lost interest. I have followed amateur racing more closely, like scca club racing. I feel like the racers go through a whole hell of a lot more and it gets pretty interesting. I also enjoy that some of the cars that are used are mildly modified cars that can be bought off the dealer lot.

Meh, I don't know, I was just thinking.

I agree that manual gated transmissions should be used as much as possible. Not only because of the extra skill, but also because drivers stuffing up shifts creates more passing.

But I don't think F1 drivers have it too easy - those cars are crazy.

WRC Competitors cover terrain pretty quickly, so "too easy" is a bit of a stretch. But I (and everyone else) seemed to lose interest about the time the homologation rules changed to allow AWD turbo cars that don't have street versions.

i dont think there's anything easy about correcting the balance of the car at 150mph in the wet.

back in the manual transmission days the cars were nowhere near as fast.

yeah with every little advancement comes a new challenge