In a motor vehicle, the shifting characteristics for kick-down shifting for gear selection in the sense of a kick-down simulation are activated by at least one selection device by which the gears of the transmission can be manually shifted up and down in a manual mode, and by an electronic control unit that predetermines a gear selection for controlling the setting elements of the transmission as a function of the signals of the selection devices, of shifting characteristics, and of further input signals. For kick-down shifting, the further input signals are the activation of the selection device into the down-shift position that requests manual down-shifting and the holding of the selection device in this down-shift position for a predetermined period of time.