chuckbdc

For me having buttons and console shifter is one mode too many to use intuitively in "go for it" situations. So I stick to the buttons (which I have after some practice found as good as paddles). When really going for it just let it shift for itself, which focuses me on optimal placement, braking, and early accelerating.

TTCarrera

Already done several times. Try the Search function.

kosmo

"To grab the next gear, you can pull one of the steering-column paddles, which feel heftier than those of a regular 911. Or, if you're in the middle of a turn, sideways and arms crossed up, you'll want to use the console shifter, because the paddles aren't fixed to the steering column. And there's even more good news: By reversing the shift pattern, Porsche has finally admitted—without actually admitting anything—that its Tiptronic (torque-converter automatic) and PDK (dual-clutch) shift levers have been backward for years. The GT3's lever now operates like a sequential race 'box, with a push forward for a downshift and a pull for an upshift. "

TTCarrera

Not sure who you're quoting above, but they are idiots.

They say its a problem that the paddles aren't fixed to the steering column because if you're in in a turn and your arms are crossed up, you'll want to take a hand off the wheel and reach for the console shifter (presumably because the paddles are in the wrong place?).

Yet, if you think about this intelligently, if you're arms are crossed up that means you correctly have you hands firmly fixed to the wheel instead of sliding them around on the wheel. If your hands are fixed on the wheel and are crossed up, the paddles.......Oh wow! Look!..... are right behind your hands!

There's no reason to take your hand off the wheel at all.

Watch how many times Timo Kluck takes his hands off the wheel to reach for the console shifter here. ( if you don't have time to watch the full 7:38 lap of the Nordschlief in a 991s, the answer is "zero").

He's one of Porsche's top test pilots. I think he knows what he's doing. The automotive "critic" quoted above can keep blogging from his parents' basement while dreaming about someday actually owning a new Porsche.

kitwetzler

I, for one, hope that the GT3 shifter is a drop in replacement. I'm sure the direction can be changed with coding, but I'm hoping it is easier than that, and a simple console swap is all that is necessary.

bccars

At first I hated the PDK stick being the wrong way around. I'm used to the normal way due to Playstation driving.
But last night I tried the stick out anyway. It's not as bad as I had thought. I keep thinking push forward to go forward, ie a gear up. Pull back to go slower, ie gear down. Offcourse I don't know when driving hard, when you do things without thinking what will happen. Might be a chance of misshifts I suppose. But then I just use the paddles I guess.

TTCarrera

Billions of people around the world do not seem to have any difficulty moving back and forth between these two commonly accepted keypad numbering conventions on a daily basis. Yet, so many rail against Porsche for seemingly ruining their lives by the shifter direction.

The adaptability of the human condition is one of life's great joys. You have to wonder if all this angst comes from people who could never learn to ride a bike.

jlanka

I hear ya but I think that's an apples/oranges comparison. The numeric keypad difference is something you can actively look at (especially on glass screens) and concentrate on. The shifter has to be a reflex because your concentration has to be elsewhere.

chuckbdc

Ah, I get it:
"Siri, shift now".... "I can do that for you ...Do you want that to be up or down?"

estim8d

Love that.

kinimod

Trolling alert.

He's actually in automatic mode. He didn't shift once on the track. Or at least I can hear and see the engine upshift yet he doesn't hit the right paddle.

But yes, it's not necessary to take the hands of the wheel.

Noah Fect

Yeah, it's basically just a phallic symbol at this point. Mine's aluminum.

Larry Cable

note that the new 991.2 cars have the PDK shifter 'sense' reversed to adopt the de facto std of pull back=up shift , push fwd=down shift

Archimedes

I prefer to use the shifter rather than the paddles in most situations, and I'd give my left nut to have the pattern reversed. It just doesn't feel natural pulling back for a downshift. Took me a while to get used to it.

MACH 86

Talk about confusion in a stress situation. I have a Cayman and a GT3 and the PDK stick is opposite in the cars. Sure glad over speed is controlled electrically. Save's the money shift.