i undersrtand what you mean by feeling rushed. but if you just forget about the other car (afterall youre racing against the clock). you might find you can actually arm the lc and launch in the time it takes the tree to count down...
i use it almost all the time now. and i can even get off the line before the other car sometimes
... of course you need one of your m modes set up for s3, traction control off, etc...