Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale Reinvents the Stick-Shift

• What's new: The 12Cilindri Manuale is a 1,499-unit special edition that cleverly disguises its dual-clutch automatic transmission.
• Why it matters: This is not the return of a conventional manual gearbox. Ferrari says that tech has been buried by modern engines that are far too powerful.
• Edmunds says: This sophisticated smoke-and-mirrors approach is novel, but we'll wait until we get one on the road to see just how real it feels.

Ferrari combined the 12Cilindri's 830-horsepower V12 with a so-called Manuale By-Wire system that is surely one of the greatest dynamic tricks ever seen in car manufacturing. While the Manuale starts in auto mode to retain its fuel economy ratings, pump the clutch and the first six of the dual-clutch transmission's eight gears become available through the manual-style gearbox.

I was allowed to play with deconstructed elements of the Manuale By-Wire system and the physical car, and the tac-tac feel and metal-ping sound of shifting through the aluminum gate felt super real. The clutch felt similarly authentic, and Ferrari said the pedal requires about 30 pounds of force to move. 

The aluminum shifter itself is not decorative. It uses sensors and mechanical kinematics to generate real resistance and load variation to mimic the feel of a traditional manual. Meanwhile, the by-wire clutch uses precise sensors to translate pedal positioning to hydraulic actuation of the transmission's clutch pack. That means the gears will shift only as well as the driver demands. Just like in a real stick-shift car, get the timing right on the clutch and it’ll be smooth, but get it wrong and Ferrari says the Manuale will happily jerk or even stall — but software will prevent destructive mis-shifts into the wrong gear.

"The mechanics generate the feeling, while the electronics ensure the precision and safety,” said Gianmaria Fulgenzi, Ferrari's chief product development officer.

Nobody outside of Maranello has driven the car yet, and the level of realism will be decisive — even if Ferrari thinks all 1,499 units will sell rapidly to selected buyers. Keeping the DCT automatic as the brains of the operation means the 12Cilindri’s estimated 2.9-second 0-to-60-mph claim remains intact. But you’ll only hit that number in auto mode, because manual shifting will never be as quick as the robotized system.

Plan to reach the top speed of 211 mph? Once you’re getting up there, you’ll have to drop back into automatic mode, because there’s no way to access seventh or eighth gear with the classic shifter.

Ferrari has announced an Italian price of 590,000 euros, and the first deliveries will begin on the continent early next year. U.S. pricing has not yet been announced but expect it to attract about a 50% premium over the standard version. I was told that the margin is so large not only because Ferrari needs to recoup its substantial development costs, but also because all 1,499 cars will get the company's "Tailor Made" bespoke treatment by default.

While the 12Cilindri will undoubtedly defy purists who define a manual by the extent of its mechanical linkages, modern Ferrari is staunch that it won’t return the 1990s, or reduce power and torque, in order to cope with a real stick-shift. I think I like the concept, but my big question is whether it feels authentic from the driver’s seat.