Sport mode isn't the same as manual. A true manual transmission has a third pedal in addition to the brake and accelerator. The driver controls the engagement and disengagement of the clutch, and they select the gears using a gear shifter typically with an H-pattern. To get a better idea of how to operate a manual transmission, check out the skills of one of the best motorsport drivers of all time, Ayrton Senna. You can see how his feet and hands work the steering wheel, gear selector, and pedals in concert. Some automatic transmissions have the ability to engage a manual mode where the driver can select gears. Unlike on a traditional manual transmission, they don't have to control the clutch with a third pedal. Instead, they control the shifts via the gear lever, buttons, or sometimes paddle shifters on the steering wheel. That's different from sport mode, where the car still shifts automatically. For instance, if you're in gear number two in a manual, it will stay there until you change it, even if you get to the RPM redline. In sport mode with an automatic, the car will shift up to third gear or down to first on its own eventually.