If you know what you're doing, yes. Pretend you're the car, would you want somebody mashing the gas pedal while you're trying to shift? Nuh uh. I usually start out with the gear shifter in 2, since the 1-2 shift is pretty sharp, then I accel to 25 mph or so, and let off of the gas a little bit and put it into 3, and the same for D if I get going ~50 and I know I'm not going to have to slow down for a red light ahead or whatever.