The upcoming Direct Automatic Transmission (DAT) from Toyota is receiving particular attention. Toyota’s chairman, Akio Toyoda, has described it as a game-changer, and now Japanese racing driver Hiroaki Ishiura is echoing this sentiment, emphasizing the outstanding performance of DAT. After testing a GR Yaris equipped with the new automatic transmission, Ishiura is confident that it outperforms the manual counterpart. He goes as far as to claim that drivers won’t lose any time shifting gears on the race track.
In an interview for the official Toyota Times magazine, Hiroaki Ishiura shared his enthusiasm for the DAT, saying, “It locks in from the moment you set off, responding linearly to gas pedal input and allowing you to shave time off your laps without any loss. DAT senses when you’re braking fully and downshifts for you to prepare for the next acceleration. It anticipates the actions ahead, just as we normally do when driving.”
