Please please make a simple option in event setup to enable or disable auto drive in private multiplayer.
The auto drive feature when paused is handy in public multiplayer lobbies, but in private test drive lobbies where lots of us just hang around lapping sporadically and casually, often pulling up at turn 1 to hang out and watch people lap, auto drive is incredibly annoying, like, deeply annoying.
The main reason just so you can pause and look at the event leaderboard. Eg you are sat at the side of the track, you see a load of cars racing, you want to join in but you need to know what class they are in, so you press pause to check the leaderboard but then the car starts driving into oncoming traffic and scares cars racing on track, and if lobby host turns ghosting off, you will end up smashing into oncoming cars. In this context, auto drive actually makes the lobby less social as it means it is difficult for players to “hang around” safely, just like in FM7 Open track days (which you need to bring back badly).