Why wont my car change gears on need for speed pro street?

i have my settings on automatic but my car wont change gear and starts to sound really strained.|||tis gives me a chance to ask a q to is tis game better than fifa street 2 bec one year back i was confused to choose wat i need for my psp it was nfs pro street or fifa street 2|||change it back to manual and then back again to auto hope this helps