We’d just arrived at the Balocco Proving Ground, about an hour outside Milan, to drive Ferrari’s first manual-transmission car in nearly 15 years: the 2027 12Cilindri Manuale. As we gathered around the car, its brushed-aluminum finish and white wheels catching the light, Jacopo Marcon, Ferrari’s product marketing manager, opened the presentation with a warning: “The 12Cilindri Manuale is a hard car to drive.” His blunt delivery was enough to make my anxiety spike.
I’m going to stall it, I thought. Or if not that, will it be an absolute handful on the track? What does he mean by hard? The thoughts kept coming.
The 12Cilindri Manuale is a significant step for Ferrari. It’s the first car to use the company’s manual-by-wire system. Ferrari has essentially built a six-speed manual transmission on top of an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. Rather than a traditional mechanical setup, servos and software handle the gear changes. But there are still three pedals and a gated manual shifter. Unfortunately, the 12Cilindri Manuale is limited to 1,499 units, all of which have already been accounted for.
Would all that technology make the 12Cilindri feel unnatural? Was that what made it hard to drive?
Three Pedals, Six Gears
Once buckled in, I got a quick briefing from the driver who would lead me around the circuit. “To operate the car in manual mode, it’s just like a manual car. You have the clutch and the shifter. If you want to switch from manual to automatic, just press the D here,” he said, pointing to the Drive button on the center console, just behind the shifter.
“To switch from automatic to manual, you have to drive below 43 mph, put the shifter in the gear you want, press the clutch, release it, and the manual will engage,” he continued. “At that point, this light on the shift knob will turn amber. If it’s in automatic, the light will be white.”
It was a lot to process, especially without enough espresso in my system, but I got the gist.
I let the clutch out slowly, pressed the throttle, and started moving. No stall. It was … easy? Just like any other manual transmission. The clutch wasn’t too stiff, and I could feel it bite as I released the pedal.
On the road to the circuit, I shifted into second. The gated shifter’s click as it slots into gear is as recognizable as the door locks on a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen—distinctive in its own way, and deeply gratifying.
We started with a warm-up lap, taking the first few turns slowly. Little by little, the driver leading me picked up the pace. Like other Ferraris, the 12Cilindri Manuale has shift lights along the top of the carbon-fiber steering wheel, illuminating in sequence as the engine approaches the 9,500-rpm redline. With every shift, that satisfying click felt like a treat.
The gated shifter was new to me. There was nothing wrong with it, but it took some getting used to. I kept catching the divider between first and third gears when shifting from second to third, costing me speed. The more we drove, though, the more comfortable I became.
Halfway through my third lap, I realized the 12Cilindri Manuale wasn’t that hard to drive. The transmission handled the power with ease, but the car still demanded care; brake or turn in too late or get careless with the throttle on corner exit, and it would make you pay. As with any supercar, its power calls for skill and respect. But the 12Cilindri Manuale delivered its 819 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque in a remarkably manageable way. Better still, the manual let me make the most of the 6.5-liter V-12. At wide-open throttle on a closed track, it was the perfect way to experience it.
What impressed me most wasn’t the 12Cilindri’s speed (though it can still reach more than 180 mph), but how composed and precise it felt through the corners. Its 50:50 weight distribution makes it a confidence-inspiring track car, and its razor-sharp steering is as precise as it gets while delivering the feedback you want in a supercar. As with many Ferraris, the more time I spent behind the wheel, the more confidence I gained. After a few laps, I was braking later and attacking the corners more decisively. Not every supercar inspires such quick acclimation.
Publication : MotorTrend
Author : Miguel Cortina
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