I have not claimed that a GC is always faster. Indeed, having a GC enables some to write a totally bad performing program. However this doesn't contradict that fact, that in many cases a GC does not only not mean a slower program, but sometimes a faster program. Usually, you don't have to "fight" the GC. In situations, where manual management is vastly better, you do use object pools and preallocated arrays even in a language with a GC.