Choosing your car's power delivery system is an extremely important decision. In racing and street driving, the way you transfer power can change your entire experience.

Just like anything you have to weigh your pros and cons. There is no more simple way to look at it. Let's look at the pros and cons of a manual transmission. The manual transmission is mandatory for road racing and autocross if you want to be competitive. It costs less power to turn than an automatic, takes up less room and weighs less. Now I may be biased, all of my vehicles I have owned since I was 16 have been manual apart from my truck, and I think they are the best.
I am not going to say it is better for everything because I know it isn't. Automatic transmissions transmit power more smoothly in a high-horsepower car than a manual so it works better for drag racing. They are also more consistent to launch. People who do a lot of driving on the street may prefer an automatic because of the traffic, but I think the left pedal makes it more interesting.