In the end I'm not sure if the gears were really an issue, think it might have just been me getting used to the car. Something still doesn't feel 100% about the gears but I can't put my finger on what it is. I might drain and refill the tranny fluid and see if that makes a difference.

As for the oil leak, it started dripping quite a bit so I took it to the mechanic again (after they'd cleaned it up). They reckon it was the vtec solenoid gasket. They resealed it and said it stopped dripping afterwards (from what they told me). Weird, I could swear it looked like it was dripping where the seal between the block and the transmission housing is.. Oh well, ill keep checking the oil regularly and checking for drips underneath.