orthojoe

Really? That sounds bizarre that a regular 911 will have a sport plus mode, but the GT3 has something between sport and sport +? That can't be... There has to be a mode that will shift only at redline and keeps the rpms high for track use

Mike in CA

How do the internet rumors begin?

Seriously, I own the car, I'm not making things up. I just came back from a drive before posting the info about the various modes. I tested everything to make sure I had the correct RPM information as I almost always drive in manual mode.

The original PDK Sport Plus was a non-adaptable, single map gearbox program that held all gears to redline. Inflexible in a way as even on track you might not always want each gear held to maximum revs under all conditions, and the mode was basically unusable on the street.

PDK-S Sport is an adaptable, multi-map gearbox program that is very aggressive and will hold each gear to maximum revs as appropriate to conditions and throttle demands. It will be perfect for the track, without the shortcomings of PDK Sport Plus, but will also allow for revs short of redline on the street.

Macca

Mike. You are on the money IMO.

I can add a few things. In manual mode the engine will bounce off the limiter. Found this out the embarrassing way by nailing it leaving a gas station very early in the morning in San Remo Italy for the benefit of the young male gas attendant who regardless of language barrier made it clear after taking snaps with their iPhone that they wanted to hear the engine. Car was warmed through as Id spent 20 minutes finding a gas station that sold 98 Octane! Put it in manual (to hold the revs) first gear, nailed it, woke up everyone in 1km vicinity and then.....hit the up paddle at rev limit to take to 2nd gear.....and hit the down paddle instead LOL! Im a paddle newbie and still having to tell myself left is down right is up etc!

Also on a second matter, I can confirm that in sport PHK mode if your throttle action is aggressive (>60% TPS approx) the gearbox ECU will revert to a program which will change the gear at Revlimit. On the track I suspect that this would mostly be the case, so perfectly suited for that application, but its a learning box so I also found that it quickly adapts to any driving style which made it in my mind the preferable auto option as I like Mike found (and have reported previously) that I found the standard PDK pretty tame (fine for highway cruising but thats about it). Its essentially an eco mode I suspect used to get the fuel consumption figures in check...

Manifold

As long as it adapts effectively, that works for me. At the same time, I like Sport+ in the other cars because you know, without a doubt, that it's going to shift well at the track.

Mike in CA

Referring also to Macca's second paragraph comments above, I think you'll find that max rev upshifts will not be a problem in PDK Sport. If you're not giving more than 60% throttle on track, or anywhere else, you're not likely to want shifts to be happening at redline anyway. And if you do, for some reason, you can override with manual mode shifting at any time.

CRex

All this talk about the PDK box... biggest question: is there the telltale "kickdown" switch at the bottom of throttle travel, a la automatic cars??

Mike in CA

In the PDK-S Auto modes, yes, but no kickdown in PDK-S Manual mode.

This is different from the normal version of PDK which has a kickdown in both auto and manual......

Macca

The speculative market in the UK is interesting read this...

http://www.total911.com/news/porsche...sts-into-life/

Mike, I know its old rope but I still save and compare every photo of a Lift car and compare it to various ones (I have many 100s) of my own car and I still cant help but think the Lift cars are 10mm higher than the non lift.....I know I sound like a broken record. I will have the definitive answer in 8 weeks when my car arrives and I can compare it to a lift car (a friend of mine in NZ has just taken possession of the first and only GT3 in New Zealand!). I think its probably just camera angles or variances in cars. heres a couple of mine with empty trunk and less than 1/2 tank gas....

Lets not debate here dont want to sideways your thread just the article above brought the whole thing home to me again....love to know if there is anything in it not that it actually matters (infact I see it as a possible positive for the lift cars as a few more mm at the front even static would be welcome by most).

Mike in CA

Shoot, Macca, It wouldn't be a Rennlist thread if it didn't go sideways a bit.

I measured my lift car at 97mm from the ground to the lowest point of the front splitter and this was a brand new car with no settling of the suspension. This is already lower than measurements we've gotten from a couple of 997 guys (silverrules at 99mm IIRC, and 911rox at 107mm.)

My car seems really low. If my car were non-lift and a further 10mm lower, I'd be even more worried about it than I am already. When you get your car home, we'll both measure again and compare.

Macca

Agree Mike. When I saw your pictures I thought it looked about the same as mine and the measurement seems consistent too. That put me off teh sent for a while. I suspect the photos are playing mind games with me. But I swear I spent hours looking (dooling) over my car in the evenings when it was parked up at different places and I tried to eyeball every angle to see if i could replicate some of the pictures I had seen of testers cars with lift etc and for the life of me from every angle my car look "just right" whereas I still see pictures where the front wheel arches show a bit more gap that I think looks perfect. As i say its probably just me being mental.

orthojoe

Oh I know you're not making things up. I'm just really surprised that PDK-S in sport mode doesn't drive like sport + mode, and that there isn't a shifting mode like sport plus. Either the programming is more advanced that I thought it could be, or the auto mode is going to be worthless like it is in the GTR for the track. How can the box account for all the different situations? Let's take a long sweeping turn like turn 2 at Thunderhill. I'm giving the car maintenance throttle through the turn. Will the car shift up a gear because it thinks I'm just cruising at partial throttle? Then it will have to shift down a gear as I add throttle and exit the turn. That would be no good. I guess that's what the manual shifters are for...?

+1. Exactly

Macca

I asked same of PAG tech whilst in Germany. I will use the car on track. I cant recall everything he told me. He was firm the box wouldnt shift once a certain level of lateral G was exceeded. Its not a complex algorithm. You couild program a iPhone app to do the same these days. Its a combination of TPS + G sensor + Yaw + sensor for ABS, PTV and ESC/TC. I tried it (my max lateral G rating on the road was +1.08). It works and hold the gear to rev line even at 40% TPS when on a long sweeper.

orthojoe

Interesting. I'll have to see how it works for myself, but I gotta imagine they know what they are doing. Let us know if it works as stated once you hit the track.

Macca

Joe. There are already a few guys on here from the USA who have tried it on track in auto and can confer...

Mike in CA

Good questions. My experience even with first generation PDK was that the gearbox didn't change shift maps so quickly that a few seconds off throttle caused it to revert to unwanted behavior, even in Sport (not +) mode, apparently like the GTR did for you. PDK-S Sport seems very aggressive and responsive. Given that PDK takes not just throttle position, but vehicle speed, wheel speeds, axial and lateral acceleration, road resistance, and a number of other factors into consideration, I think the sophistication of the programming is quite advanced and easily able to cope, for example, with the situation you described. And of course many are saying they would use manual mode in any event, which makes all of this moot.

Macca's experience with it so far would seem to indicate that your concerns won't be an issue but we'll have to see as we all get track time. Maybe SamFromTx and others can chime in with their feedback since they've used the car on track.