I don’t know if the shifter is strictly necessary but I am glad it takes two actions to shift, especially for reverse and forward. It’s also really nice having the shifter because it’s this relatively big control surface I can grab and control without looking down. I have that exact model of BMW and I often use the shifter to quickly put the car into sports mode for overtaking. They have another button to do something similar but there is no way I can do that while overtaking. The move shifter left maneuver is easy to do while keeping my eyes on the road.