For what reasons would a 400hp automatic car lose to a 400hp manual transmission car
Simple- a 400hp manual allows the driver to shift at will, whereas the auto does not. The auto is not made for speed, whereas the manual is. You have to remember, the amount of horses and torque that an engine puts out goes up and then down as the RPM goes up. You want to shift so when youre in the next gear, it is in the steep part of the raise.
In the shifting. Well, are we assuming drag racing or regular racing? like with curves and stuff. You have more control over the car when you have a manual transmission but, it also means you have more responsibilities too. When cars get that high of a horse power sometimes automatic is better (drag racing) cause all you have to do is step on the gas. A good match transmission can do wonders. In regular racing a manual is better because your car will be changing speeds at different irregular times. You need to slow down a bit before the curve yet you need more torque out of it. So, it makes sense to be able to control that. Note that we are talking racing not average car. For the average car that will be use for the occasional law braking acceleration then manual is better because the automatic transmission is set to change gears at optimal normal driving conditions where as the manual you tell the car when to shift. A race car works differently than a regular car because you can choose the gears in such a way that the car shifts optimally with automatic trans. Not so with regular cars. Also, there is the human error factor. With the manual trans, the driver may miss a shift or shift too early or too soon.
With an automatic the computer in the car is trying to guess what you want it to do without blowing the engine which is why it shifts differently every time but when it does this for most cars it will not go all the way to the perfect shift rpm for your car which is when having a manual is better. Newer cars are getting better at this though and some cars do claim to have better automatic then manual. There are many other reasons why the automatic could have lost though. Different cars, different suspensions, or one could have had street vs Performance tires.
