The manual transmission is an endangered species, an increasingly rare option for those who desire absolute control over every gear change. Advances in automatic transmissions have made them faster and crisper than ever before, and with companies offering upwards of eight speeds even in economy cars, automatics even offer better fuel economy.

So how can someone who really wants a manual transmission hope to keep up with today’s crisp-shifting automatics? Well for buyers of the Shelby GT350, a customizable Performance Shift Light indicator is being offered as a way to optimize performance without ever taking your eyes off the road or race track.

The Performance Shift Light can be tuned to one of three different settings, Track, Tach, and Drag, each with its own parameters for shifting. In Tach mode, the dash-mounted Heads-Up Display (HUD) lights up from the left to right as an indicator of RPM. Track mode, meanwhile, has the indiactor lights illuminate from the outside-in, flashing brightly when the optimum shift point is attained.

Finally there’s Drag mode, where the HUD stays dark until a pre-set shift point is attained, after which the indicator flashes brightly and repeatedly. “Given the conditions of a drag race, we found drivers wanted maximum simplicity in a performance shift light,” said Mike Makled, electrical engineer for Shelby programs.

For those wanting even more control, the Performance Shift Light can be set to your own shift points (in case you think you know better than Ford), or the feature can be shut off entirely for you purists out there. Yet Ford’s professional test drivers can’t get enough of the Performance Shift Light indicator. “All of our drivers love this feature,” boasts Makled. “They can’t believe how much it reduces the distraction of having to look away to a tach or a shift light in the cluster.”

If it’s good enough for the professionals, it’s probably good enough for you and us, too. Now for those of us who can’t afford a GT350 -maybe this tech will trickle down to the GT, EcoBoost, and even V6 Mustangs as an option.