That brake pedal looks like a household register vent.
Actually, that's the spot you put your foot below where the clutch would be. The brake is just barely visible on the right, looks normal.
You can't dragrace with an automatic car without a manual setting nor can you brake with the gearbox which is very useful when you get a flat tire. Automatic cars are for you lazyass friends who want everything easier in their life.
You can totally drag race in an automatic car "without a manual setting." It's called mashing your foot down. It won't be as much fun as shifting, but you can do it. Also, you can brake with your handbrake if you don't have a gear selection mechanism, but it's irrelevant because the R8 DEFINITELY has a gear selection mechanism. In fact, most high end sports cars are shifting (no pun intended) away from manual gearboxes because they're slow and clunky. Porsche is phasing out manual transmissions in favor of it's fantastic PDK dual-clutch transmission. Lamborghinis haven't shipped with manual transmissions for at least two generations. Ferraris don't come with manual transmissions anymore.
I prefer manuals for the fact you can get a better control of its speed + if your brakes go out you can actually not die
On the other hand a automatic is easier to drive but horrid for anything aside from casual drive. Also their transmissions suck richard. (They are not fun to work with, transmissions suck in general but I dislike automatic more. Both spew trans fluid all over the place)
You don't really get better control of speed. You get better control of RPMs, but first off automatic transmissions are really good at selecting the proper gear desired based on your current speed and how far down the gas pedal is pressed, and second off any car that is worth driving for the pleasure of driving with an automatic transmission lets you control the currently selected gear.
Also, automatic transmissions are engineering masterpieces. Look at one sometime. They are glorious works of logical art and are probably the most complex machinery that's utilized so heavily per capita.
That said, I prefer manual transmissions. I just think it's dumb when people hate on automatics. It's bandwagoning friendry.