And another thing, how is upshifting manually on an AT causing it to upshift slower? As far as I've understood, throwing it in second does not equal a shift to second NECESSARILY. Putting the shifter in 2nd tells the ECU "hey man, let's not use any gear above 2nd, ok?" I fail to see how putting the shifter in 2nd (from say. . . 4th) while the car is already in 2nd hurts it.

Situation:
Car is already in second gear accelerating, you put the shifter in 2nd, a downshift does not occur because you're already in 2nd, so thus the ECU is instructed that the maximum gear is 2nd.

We already know how smart the ECU is (Throw it in 1st from. . . 80MPH results in 3rd gear being selected, even though ECU is instructed to use 1st. You've got a guy tailgaiting you, slide the shifter to R (yes, REVERSE) and the car is instructed to shift into neutral because obviously NO ONE wants to go into R above 20 MPH (the cutoff is actually somewhere around 5-7MPH, but I've never tested it below 20.). I'm saying the ECU is smart, but it's not winding out any particular gear above around 6K.

Random tidbits. . . Flames welcome.