M Coupe is a manual but the clutch isn't so bad. On the M3 it's about 4 times the effort.

As for SMG don't expect it to be smooth like a regular auto. It will be jerkey for around town driving. The full benefit can only be had with agressive cornering/track/autox. It's great you can stack shifts which mean if you are in 4th and you need to be in 2nd after the corner to accelerate out, then you just flip the paddle twice and you will be in 2nd as soon as the speed allows.