11 May

There are plenty of people out there who think ‘real’ driving is driving a manual. Gears in cars are actually only there because internal combustion engines are crap technology and have narrow power bands. Electric cars don’t need gear changes at all, so it’s likely changing gears will disappear from driving altogether. It interests me though because it’s a good example of how we can turn something that’s crap into something apparently more authentic, often our way of trying to say we’re still cool, even though we’re getting old.