Awesome to know that, I've only barely touched iRacing and not in years and I've never tried Automobilista at all, but will have to check them out knowing this!
But yeah, a tiny bit more realism would be great - we're almost there and I praise CodeMasters for getting to this point even. Clutchless shifting and dog/synchro setting (or at least based on the car type) would be awesome - there's quite a few different types of transmissions used in racing/rally from a synchromesh h-pattern like a road car, to that same h-pattern upgraded w/dogs and maybe stronger gears or different ratio, that same h-pattern box gutted and replaced with sequential internals, a full race sequential, dual clutch, etc.. Plus differences in how they're managed.. Just because you swapped a sequential in, doesn't mean the clutch is gone - still have to use it for starts unless you have an ecu-controlled actuator, plus you also have to program the ECU to cut ignition briefly on upshift to unload the gears based on a loadcell in the shift knob and do the same but also blip the throttle on downshift, assuming you have an electronic throttle and if not then you have to blip yourself or use the clutch, etc.
When you really get into rally racing and you're building your own car, this kinda stuff is 100% the details that matter and change a driving experience, make you win, etc.. Not everyone is lucky/talented enough to get thrown into a WRC car that has top of the line tech and does everything automatically for you.
I mean, the game is basically doing the same thing if you select sequential w/manual clutch anyway, except you can't not shift right in that case.
In fact, another thing that's a little weirdly handled in most rally games is the handbrake. In RWD and most AWD cars, if you pull the handbrake either the brakes aren't going to do anything much or they're going to stop the wheels which stops the axle which stops the diff which stops the driveshaft which stops the transmission which stops the engine, unless you hit the clutch. Or unless (for AWD) you have a super advanced rally car that has an electronic center diff and disconnects the rear wheels it when you pull the handbrake or (for RWD or AWD) a clutch actuator that kicks the clutch when you pull the handbrake.
Considering we have different diff types in the game, especially for AWD cars, like viscous and otherwise, it'd be nice to see something like this too, or at least the option or something. Automatic clutch could do it, but w/full manual clutch especially in a RWD car, hitting the handbrake hard should stall the car - I haven't fully tested this in this new game, a little bit with AWD but not RWD yet.
But all these little details would take things to the next level. Especially w/being able to build cars now sorta, adding in little things like being able to choose different turbos or turbo/super setups (single, twin, twin-charged, compound?), change RPM limits, etc would be amazing - but I'm not holding my breath for a game w/perfect parts/tuning/etc, as nice as it would be - the driving experience is probably more important and this definitely affects that.
It definitely feels a lot better to use the paddles in most cases with two foot braking as otherwise like I mentioned you sort of have to use the Manual Override clutch option which will sometimes clutch at weird times; that behavior but w/the h-pattern and grinding if RPMs aren't matched would be awesome!
I feel like this isn't hugely known either, as high level motorsports just use full sequentials and stuff where it's not really a thing.. and daily drivers pretty much always use the clutch anyway.. it's those who're grass roots/building their own cars/not on teams w/millions of dollars that really know about clutchless shifting.. and really, we're just wanting to do 2-foot braking which, personally, IMHO, is a basic requirement for rally - I'll take 2feet over a handbrake in almost all cases, even most FWD cases!
