In my opinion, cycle shoes without a doubt help! Sneakers have flexible bottoms, which make your pedaling less efficient. Cycle shoes have hard soles, so every stroke of the pedal is going 100% toward the cycling effort and nothing is lost in the bending of your foot. My recommendation is a pair of mountain biking shoes – they are not quite as hard as road shoes and are less expensive (and you don’t look odd wearing them into the gym or driving. You can check out various styles athttp://www.chainreactioncycles.com, or go to a bike store and look for styles on sale, since you don’t have to really worry about what they are made of, weight, etc. Also find out what type of pedal your gym uses. You may want to get clips to match that pedal, or simply wear them as-is if your pedals have cages to hold your feet in.
-Anthony Conyers