I can imagine the difficulty to shift to neutral or low gear.

I had an old 5-speed (manual) Mazda before. It was very hard to shift down if the speed was much higher than normal speed range, say if you want to shift to second gear at 60 miles/hr. Keep in mind the transmision is totally disconnected from engine when you push down the clutch, so auto transmision could be a lot harder (just my imagination).