Most rally cars run straight cut dog engagement gears, also most productions cars have a straight cut reverse. So you can imagine what it would be like if you had to drive about with that whine all day.

You can also get helical dog engagement gears, so you can slam the gears in like a rally driver, but still have the low noise of an everyday box.

There's also a company in Japan that developed a gear shifter that you just push forewards or backwards to change up or down.

http://www.ikeya-f.co.jp