About "torque management" / nanny stuff. It could be worse. I rented a Hertz Shelby in 2006 on Maui mostly for the Road to Hana and Haleakala. Wet road covered with wet leaves, auto trans, WOT first gear, tires would not even break loose... forget driftin' an apex.
About the G's, don't the 7AT's and 6MTs run about the same 0-60 / 1/4? Would / do the AT's benefit more from a program "update"?

 

wow, thats sucks! but that does not sound like torque managment but rather the VDC. On a rental car they probably don't even let you turn it off.

Wet leaves are NOT a good place to "break loose" !!!

 

Yeah, those late model AT Mustang GT's have serious throttle lag and torque management. The aftermarket companies offer some real nice tunes you could load onto the car's ECU. They made a world of difference.

I had a 93 octane tune on my '07 Mustang GT and it completely removed the throttle lag. I also pick up 3mph in the 1/4 mile. The tune advanced the engine timing and remapped the fuel tables when used with an aftermarket CAI. In fact, most CAI's on for the Mustang GT required an aftermarket tune. Aside from a rear end gear swap, the aftermarket tune/CAI combo was the best bang for the buck.

 

I'm with you. It's nanny stuff. But, in this case probably good it was there. A sideways WOT Shelby on a narrow coastal road at the edge of a cliff could make for some serious long term rusting issues.