As someone who prefers not to drive where possible, and in a country where manual for regular cars is not common, why do people think manual is so great?

Gives you some more control on your gears, sure. But heck, the only time I ever, ever need it is going up or down very steep hills - for which there are low gear settings on most cars which you can switch on for those moments.

For most people, it’s just a massive waste of time to learn, when an engineered solution already exists and presumably doesn’t add significant enough cost to be worth not having it (I assume, because of the lack of demand, here).

Is it just, for the “love of driving”? Okay fair enough, but that’s your hobby then, not sure why we need to like it also

In any case, do enlighten me because I don’t get it haha