Reading through this thread it reminds me on many threads on ClubVR4 (auto v manual). The Legnum/VR4 has the same auto box as the ATR & is good for around 450bhp. With the vr4's there is not much difference between the Auto & manuals except fuel economy.
This is my Auto VR4 against a Manual VR4 with just about the same mods.
Crail 01/04/12 (Legnum VR4) - YouTube You can see my car pulling away just that little bit more with every gear change as the auto does it quicker than a human.
In the short time I have owned the ATR I have found that the auto box is not really suited to the 4 pot engine. For those of you that don't know the VR4 is a 2.5 V6 twin turbo with hardly any lag so doesn't rev the tits out of the engine.
I'm in the processes of buying the parts to get the ATR engine to Evo spec & I'm now considering changing the box to manual because of this reason. I'm going to see how it runs with the auto box & take it from there.