We Drive Ferrari’s New V-12 Supercar with a

Ferrari's new 12Cilindri Manuale brings back a clutch pedal and a gated gear lever to the company's flagship V-12 coupe, but the gearbox is not a conventional manual. The limited-edition car, introduced in July 2026, is limited to 1,499 units and is the first Ferrari with a stick shift since the 599 GTB and California of 2012. Early reviews published this week from Top Gear and GTspirit describe a system that feels convincingly like a manual, with a few quirks.

Ferrari calls the system Manuale By-Wire. Under the skin is the same eight-speed dual-clutch automatic as the standard 12Cilindri, but a physical clutch pedal and an H-pattern lever act as inputs that tell the gearbox what to do. Drivers can shift the first six gears and reverse themselves, and the car reverts to automatic at the touch of a button. Seventh and eighth gears are outside the gate and are used only in automatic mode, and the steering-wheel paddles have been removed. The clutch pedal has about 14 kilograms of resistance, and Ferrari engineered the lever to reproduce the loads, clicks and resistance of its older manual gearboxes. Reviewers say a driver who can use a conventional manual gets the hang of it almost immediately, and that the system can even pre-select a gear below about 70 km/h while in automatic.

The simulated manual means Ferrari did not have to cut power. The car keeps the naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V-12 with 830 horsepower, and Ferrari quotes 0 to 62 mph in 3.0 seconds and a top speed of 211 mph. Ferrari executives said customer demand for a manual drove the project, even though some buyers said they would have accepted less power in exchange for a real one. There are quirks. The car does not blip the throttle automatically on downshifts in manual mode, so drivers have to heel-and-toe, and some reports say that mistreating the clutch can cause clunky shifts or even a stall. Koenigsegg used a similar approach first on its own cars, but Ferrari's version is the first to be fitted to a V-12 Ferrari. Top Gear's headline verdict was that it is an all-time great manual. Details come from Top Gear, GTspirit, Motoring Research and Chasing Cars.