The manual transmission has all but faded into obscurity here in America, and the transition to electric vehicles devoid of multi-speed gearboxes at all promises to put a final nail in the coffin. There is a glimmer of hope, however, coming from Toyota. After filing a patent for a manual transmission simulator for EVs, the Japanese carmaker let us briefly drive the test mule at its Shimoyama RD Center outside Toyota City, Japan. Yes, it’s completely superfluous.
The simulator is a convincing imitation of the real thing, even with a somewhat heavy clutch effort. Intentionally mangle a shift, and the car lurches as you take your left foot off the pedal. Bog the “engine” in 6th, and you’ll get the equivalent lack of torque found in a gas-powered car. Imamura-san, the Toyota engineer riding shotgun, even mentions that they calibrated the accelerator to have a slight lag, dampening the instant response of the electric motor to further mimic the real thing.