Car will not always go into gear

So occasionally whenever I start my car, the starter sputters for about 3-4 seconds before turning over and starting. After this, I put it into drive and it acts like it is still in neutral; it still won't catch after shifting between drive and park slowly several times on the same start. (Which leads me to believe it might not be the transmission) It seems the only way to fix the issue is to turn off the car for approximately 30 seconds, turn it back on and then it works fine without fail every time. Also for additional information the throttle body has go e bad and is being replaced later this week.