dark knight

not back to the old topic, but one take home lesson after Matt Leblancs painfully short an superficial 911R review is how much faster PDK-S makes a car

TRAKCAR

LOL, good analogy

consolidated

hamster > CVT

FORENN

Zero = The number of enthusiasts who would opt for manual over PDKS because they think manual is faster.

GrantG

The biggest performance benefit of PDK is launch control (and lower gearing) from a standing start. If you go to the drag strip or like to beat people off the line from a stoplight, you want PDK.

On a road course, the difference is not that dramatic. The biggest advantage is having 7 performance gears compared to a 6spd. The faster shift time helps, but it's not a huge game changer for laptime.

The 911R is well behind the GT3 on acceleration runs (SportAuto got 0-60 in 4.0 while GT3 does high 2's to low 3's), but it runs about even at Hockenheim (it actually is a tenth faster than the GT3 and only 6 tenths behind the RS that has more front and rear rubber, wider track, stiffer suspension, better aero, and E-diff to go with its PDK).

http://fastestlaps.com/tracks/hockenheim-short

997s07

Who is Matt Le Blanc?

MaxLTV

Exactly. There is not that much shifting on most tracks, especially in north america, given how long gears are in these street cars, and the generous torque curves of modern engines have little to no penalty for shifting a bit earlier than perfectly optimal. And then the extra weight etc. So the PDK advantage is surprisingly small in most situations on a road course. Try driving a formula car with 5 gears spanning the top 50-60 MPH, and of course all of them in use every lap, and mistiming a shift by .01 of a second costing 0.1 of a second or more - that's where computer shifting perfectly can get some major advantage (still, probably just a couple of .1s per lap).

I'd still take PDK, even if it makes my internet ***** smaller, because it removes the boring routine move of shifting and protects from overrev. But, as it has been said 1000s times before, it's a very personal preference. I find things boring and "in the way" once I know how to do them, so to me shifting is just an odd annoying thing, like as if you had to clap your hands 3 times every time before you sit or stand up. But many people find pleasure and pride in doing something perfectly time after time under pressure on track, no matter how routine it is. I fully understand and respect that. So I would not universally put one transmission over another.

Kobalt

Uk Top Gear host

GolfTango3

Joey.

consolidated

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I enjoy shifting myself at times, but after a lifetime of shifting and years of racing a manual it's just not that interesting. It's intuitive and is not some 'special and magical experience' or a big contributor to that.

dark knight

I like the manual control the PDK-S gives me, that I wouldn't give up, not having that control and letting the car do it for me is kind of like having sex with some chick in the dark, u miss out on parts of the experience, u get there but miss some of the fun parts, I guess I wonder why PDK-S isn't offered on the entire line up, the lightning fast shifts are amazing, I had to drive a PDK equipped car lsat week, it didnt feel as good and I really disliked the backwards console shift

hughp3

+1. I never did a money shift in my old 996 Cup but came darn close. PDK takes all that agonizing away and lets me mess other stuff up instead!

nlpamg

lol

997s07

So the new Top Gear has cars reviewed by an actor? That's too bad. Guess it is just entertainment but less so than the old Top Gear.

Tom Tweed

Porsche finally fixed this with the new models. Console shifting is the same direction as PDK-S now in both the 718 and 991.2 models.


http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/91...lkupplung-pdk/

TT