![[VIDEO] Ferrari's New By-Wire Manual Transmission Shows GM the Path Forward](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/2026/07/070726_1.jpg)
Last month, Ferrari pulled the sheet off its first-ever all-electric vehicle, the Luce. The mere concept of an electric Ferrari was already as pointless as alcohol-free beer, but the car nobody asked for somehow became even worse in execution. With the unlimited design potential that comes from removing the packaging restraints of internal combustion, the firm most easily associated with seductive Italian exotica delivered… a less-charismatic take on the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. The $645,000 plug-in slap to the face of Enzo’s legacy was so bad that the company’s stock plummeted 8%, losing $4B in value, the day following its debut. The usually bulletproof Prancing Horse was suddenly in desperate need of a win.
Meanwhile, on Bring a Trailer, a 15,000-mile 2006 Ferrari F430 Spider, a car that regularly changes hands for around $150,000, hammered with a staggeringly high bid of $485,000. This wasn’t an outlier result, either. For years, the F430 and a handful of other Ferrari models have necessitated two distinct graphs to truly represent their modern appreciation progression. Hagerty values a #3 “Good” Condition F430 at $158,000 and a #1 “Concours” Condition example at $255,000. No matter which condition one happens upon, they can expect to pay a 100% premium if it has one option box checked: the gated six-speed manual transmission.
Well, the powers that be over at Ferrari have finally taken notice – or finally decided to act on the fact – that collectors are literally falling over themselves to get their hands on the most recent (ie. the most powerful ones with the least maintenance nightmares) three-pedal offerings from Maranello, and will be offering their front-engine V12 grand tourer with a stick shift* for the first time since the 599 GTB went out of production more than a decade and a half ago.
The reason for the asterisk above is that the manual transmission to be featured in the “12Cilindri Manuale” isn’t actually a manual at all. Yes, it’ll have the classic gated shifter and a clutch pedal, but, in reality, they’re more of a simulation as they offer no physical connection to the powertrain. Instead, the shifter gives drivers access to the first six gears of the existing car’s eight-speed dual clutch automatic. Through clever programming, Ferrari “chased the tactility” of the 599’s old shift action. It’s both possible to stall the 12Cilindri, and to put it in “D” and cruise around letting it shift itself.
Critics might lampoon this “Manuale by Wire” tech as a gimmick and a glorified video game controller, but when viewed through “half full” glasses, it also offers the incredible opportunity to row gears in an 819 horsepower, naturally aspirated, 9,500 rpm V12 Ferrari. Who cares if there’s a bit of software between you and all of that goodness; are you going to turn down Sydney Sweeney just because she mentions a condom?
Are You Listening, GM?
During the first drive of his eventual car of the year, the 2009 Corvette ZR1, noted American car skeptic and then-host of a little show called Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson yelled (as he tends to do) “Are you listening, Ferrari?” at the camera after rattling off the Blue Devil’s spec sheet, including its Ferrari halo-levels of power and mandatory three pedals. This special run of 12Cilindris is Ferrari finally returning fire. If the phrase “by wire” has been ringing a bell in your head as you read this, it’s because GM patented and has been sitting on a very similar artificial shifting system since 2018 that makes us do the Sophie Cunningham meme and say “you already solved that problem,” every time a GM engineer says a stick won’t work in the C8 Corvette.
If The General has been waiting because the 2018 patent didn’t pan out, it might be that time once again. Time to purchase and dissect a Ferrari in order to recreate and hopefully one-up their Italian recipes. As the selling price gaps between automatic and manual specimens of the final Corvettes with both options continue to grow to Ferrari-esque levels, there’s obvious pent-up demand for shift-it-yourself Corvettes, and manual fans are still lying in wait for a more playful C8. After so much time away, they’ll welcome it with open arms, even if it has a whiff of the artificial about it!
Source:
Ferrari
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This is 100% the way forward. It’s cost-effective in that the programming is pretty much a 1-time sunk cost that could potentially be replicated on future vehicles at minimal cost. There’s no secondary transmission certification /MPG / CAFE testing. No additional durability testing required. Programming can simulate the feel of lurching and stalling. Programming can prevent damage from blown/missed shifts. And the piped-in exhaust noise can be swapped with piped-in sychro griding for all the die-hards.
It’s brilliant in that it doesn’t require parallel transmission development and the CAFE testing can be performed in automatic mode (for maximum efficiency). Thus there shouldn’t be a GGT for this “shift-by-wire”; since it was certified to MPG outside of that operational use.
It’ll be entirely up to the purists to decide if Cypher being plugged back into the Matrix is “good enough” or if they are so crotchety that they ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE 150 year old transmission technology in the most contemporary of cars.
Why bother. You are just flicking a switch as this is not a real manual.
Better to leave it on the paddles.
Wow, a paddle shifter controlled by a “stick switch.”
No clutch pedal??!!??
That is the most ridiculous thing I have seen yet
Just let it go. Manual shifting is gone forever.
I’m just amazed a company with the pedigree of Ferrari would do this.
IPD, it’s not a matter of being “crotchety.”
The 150 year old technology is what literally
connects the driver to the power train for a thrilling experience.
It’s old tried and true technology that is irreplaceable for a genuine driving encounter.
BTW, for a true purist, this absurd marketing experiment is ridiculous. It doesn’t do anything.
I almost missed it.
It’s badged “Manuale.”
Yeah right!!!😂😂😂😂
It’s almost as bad as having a kit car Ferrari on a VW bug chassis.
Man, I can do this all day.
Give me a Hurst shifter on a M22 so I can bang the gears.
@ Tony S,
Then Corvette simply isn’t the car for you. GM will still provide this on Cadillac and the upcoming 7th gen Camaro–but the days of offering it in the Corvette–are gone. And that shouldn’t give anyone grief. Corvette is about apex performance; always has been. Analog driving feel was a side-effect of rudimentary tech, not a hallmark of character.
Now that transmission technology has massively eclipsed the traditional manual, it is deleterious to the Corvette’s apex performance to offer a legacy transmission. Since a manual is about engagement and not peak performance, any car with an analogue experience will fit the bill.
Ferrari licensed Magnaride from GM, so licensing this ‘manuele’ would be natural. If you read enough about what Ferrari is offering, it is perfectly like a regular old stick. You can even dump the clutch and power shift. I hope Chevy offers it soon.
For the Corvette enthusiasts who want a manual gearbox and a clutch in a C8 Corvette
this electronic setup by Ferrari may be the best chance for this to happen. It solves almost
all of the issues that stand in the way of a true mechanical shifter and clutch. The electronic
shifter would not ruin the structural integrity of center tunnel in the C8. The existing
transmission would not have to be replaced. The one issue that may still exist is finding
room for the clutch pedal. From information in the article GM has already done much of
the development to make putting a shifter and clutch in the C8 possible. For the people
who say it’s sacrilege to have a electronic clutch and shifter in a C8 Corvette I have to ask
why their doesn’t seem to be a huge issue with the brake by wire system in the C8 Corvette.
There is no mechanical connection between the brake pedal and brakes. It’s an electronic system. GM has already shown a mechanical system can be replaced by a electronic
system.
REALLY….Dumb!
Stick to paddles, they’re today and they’re Great!
🤣🤣 “Who cares if there’s a bit of software between you and all of that goodness; are you going to turn down Sydney Sweeney just because she mentions a condom?” 🤣🤣