It's a traditional slushbox 4-speed with one entirely useless way of shifting gears (steering wheel) and one slightly more useful (shifter.) If you want to shift gears all the time, buy a manual. I let both of my automatics do their thing - work automatically. You really gain nothing by trying to tell the car that you know best. The only time you should ever need to overide it is say down a big hill, or going through twisties.
The 'autos' you're referring to in supercars (the fact is a lot of them now are clutchless manuals, not automatics) are nothing like the slushboxes in our R34's or anything other sub-$50,000 car.
Don't get me wrong, I still prefer to drive an automatic (2/3 of my cars are auto) for the fact I'm still far too nervous to drive a manual all the time. I might get over that one day.