It's also worth noting that you can skip gears. For example going straight from two to four and then six when accelerating hard. It depends on the car, engine size/power, conditions, gradient and a few other things. Same when changing down. I'm personally a fan of using the gearbox to decelerate rather than just the brake.

I'm currently rocking a 20 year old Nissan Micra "Twister" with an auto gearbox - a proper granddad car (I am as it turns out). It weighs about two kilos and has about 2 BHP but it is a bit of a Q ship. I've seen off some expensive cars at roundabouts with some local knowledge a careful choice of lane and a stomp on power when it counts. It does make some odd noises when turning right (a CV boot is quite fucked). Lane one on a roundabout is often quicker than lane two due to less curvature, unless you can transition from lane two to one to straighten it out.

An auto always has some drive engaged so a standing start is often quicker but in a manual you can stomp on the accelerator and run up say 4000 RPM and give your clutch a good old work out whilst using the brake to hold in place. If you have enough power, you can start off in second or ideally you have one of those flappy paddle jobs and stay in first for about a half second and then change up as you go.

I prefer a manual box - you feel more engaged with the vehicle but then an auto can also be played with too. You can make it change up and down when you get the hang of it by blipping the throttle and getting to know what it wants to do in certain circumstances.