PorscheRuminator

This was a hard one at first; sorry if this is a long post. I have always had manual sports cars. My first real sports car was an 05 Corvette convertible 6 speed, then I realized I needed a roof when I started DEs in 2008 with a Z06 that I drove directly from the factory in KY to its first HPDE the next day. I daily drove/tracked it for 3 years, then moved to a ZR1 that I used the same way for 5 years; no rev matching, just heel/toe and practice. Each session was an exhilarating workout. Then a friend took me for a ride in his 991 2S PDK and I was amazed at the stability of the thing as it changed gears in the middle of the carousel at Road America without upsetting the balance of the car at all; you really could just concentrate in the perfect line and steering/braking etc. I still planned on getting a C7 Z06 manual, but they had significant cooling issues on track so I finally ditched GM and looked for a GT3. I missed out on the tail end of the 991.1s and the GT4, so I ordered a Cayman GTS with a manual. I loved the balance but on the street the gearing was so tall you only got 1 or 2 shifts in before the fun was done, and on the track I would say to myself that I knew I was being slowed down by the manual. I was one of the lucky ones who had a Cayman built in the spring of 2016 that had a bad third gear weld, and mine blew at a track 7 hours from home. Porsche replaced the whole box under warranty, but it did cast a little doubt on the durability vs PDK.

When I finally got an allocation for a GT3, I originally chose PDK after hearing out the happy masses who had taken the plunge. The manual hype was still everywhere though, and I called the dealer a week before the order closed to choose the manual. I got an email saying "sorry, Porsche already locked it out a week early..." I was really bummed, especially after waiting so long for the car, but I figured at this point I would wait and see what everyone was talking about. In the meantime, I learned the nasty reality of overspeed events when selling a manual car that has seen lots of track time (even using the auto rev matching every track day), and the sale offers I got for the Cayman were hard to swallow as the dealers could not sell the car as CPO. For the most part, overspeed events are a non-factor in a PDK car, which is huge re: resale and warranty coverage if you plan to use these cars for their intended purpose.

I got my .2 GT3 last winter and broke it in over the winter and spring, and it really is the best of both worlds. If you use manual mode on the street, the gearing doesn't feel as tall as the Cayman, so it feels like there are actually more gears to play with. It's fun to use the gear lever or paddles depending on your mood. Traffic is easy. On the track, it took me half a lap to become a believer. In auto mode I can rev to 9k over and over without risk of blowing past it or short shifting every time out of fear of going past redline. My track times blow away my 638 hp ZR1 (lots of reasons why, but PDK is a big part for me), and I don't come off the track exhausted.

If I go back to manual, it will be on a convertible cruiser, not my track day weapon. I don't regret PDK.

Mike in CA

Manual wasn't available when I ordered my 2014 but if it was I would have ordered PDK anyway, without regret. I get as much enjoyment from driving my PDK equipped GT3 (in manual mode) as I did from any of the many MT transmission cars I've owned. A modern high performance car should have a modern high performance gearbox. EOS.

whojoemama

CAlexio

So true.. mistaking involving for actually doing it correctly

C.J. Ichiban

CAlexio- as others have said I do prefer the 997 GT3 RS trans the most for 911's.

These new clutch pedals are too light and the dual mass robs a little from the equation.


Pdk is a superior technology but the attention you pay during regular drives to manual shifting means less texting etc.

My favorite transmissions from porsche are the CGT and the 4.0RS and the 993Gt2 (great ratios, great pedal to hand combination)

I liked the R transmission because the single mass meant you could blip it a lot more freely

The GT4 trans was ok, but in the light of "this is 100k and not 200k a great overall driving experience.

Personally the new GT3 is cooler with the PDK because the gimmick of wham wham wham triple downshifts is pretty cool. The gimmick of downshifting yourself is not as cool and I disagree that this MT is a modern marvel etc.

If the new speedster does not have a single mass flywheel I will be selling my car.

white6speed

I have 2 friends, both went with MT and both sold the cars because of some missed expectations. Money not an issue and neither are flippers, they do like the "new best thing" as one has now ordered a Turbo S and both had '15 GT3's prior.
This is all about strokes for folks IMO.

Jimmy-D

Would be interested in hearing what missed expectation they had with the Manual

Manifold

white6speed

Both can and are fun. There was a lot of hype early on and it continues about the MT car. Both these guys were somewhat caught up in the hype and had to have one. Neither track and the reality of shifting a powerful car that broke all speed limits in 2nd gear became less exciting for them. I would say say just wrong car for these 2 guys, also one had buckets and his wife refused to get in the car.

Jimmy-D

Good point

Jimmy-D

Of all of this what gets lost is how good this 4.0 Engine is. I took her out for a good hour last night, which may be one of the last better weather nights we see as we enter Winter here in the Midwest, and I freakin love this engine. It pulls hard and long and the throttle response is just freskin incredible. Every time I drive her I am just in awe no matter what tranny you have. I hope they do not go turbo because every one needs to enjoy this. The sound from this beast, especially with a bypass, is music to the ears.

Love it

neanicu

Everyone and their grandma likes to obsessively repeat what they've read on the forums : you can get to 82 mph in 2nd gear and in jail in 3rd. News flash! You are over the limit with pdk in 2nd for most states and in jail in 3rd!
I'm not a good driver,so the only time I've felt pdk helped me on the track was when I've left it in Auto. Whenever I've tried to use the paddles,I would sometimes confuse the damn things : upshift when it's time to downshift and vice versa. Sometimes I would flip the downshift paddle and the computer would let me know I'm too dumb and that I shouldn't do that because I'll overrev the engine. But with a manual transmission I don't seem to do that : for some reason I always know which gear I'm in from years of using it : 2nd down and close to me,3rd up in the middle,4th down in the middle...and that's pretty much all you need on most tracks... I'm also slow and my ego is very small...I let most pass me and if I can get a bit faster with each lap I'm happy : I've never won a DE cup!
On the street(where these cars spend 80% of their time),there's no contest IMO : manual is more fun by a large margin. To the pdk " law abiding citizens " ,I will bring my radar gun and monitor their speeds at the next event : I want to see if they're within speeds limits in comparison with the manual drivers...with lower gear ratios and all...

Here's the pdk gear ratios and speeds I have found on this forum(courtesy of GrantG) :

reacher

It was a similar situation with my friend, he felt like he just couldn't connect with the car. He felt like the manual was a poor match for the engine and something felt "off" and like everything wasn't working together as well as in the PDK cars. He has multiple other manual transmission cars that he loves, he tracks some of them, so it's not a skill thing or a dislike of manuals in general. He also had PDK GT3s and GT3 RS, as well as older manual GT3s. The 991.2 GT3 just didn't feel right to him with the manual transmission, so he sold it quickly. I could feel his disappointment when he first got the car and I asked him how he liked it.

meaker

I love the manual but do miss the race car shifting of the PDK.

OpieT

+1