Pardon my clairvoyance, but in a few years I predict some of us will be very excited about the 991 and some will be waxing nostalgic about the days we had a proper transmission and engine sound. The PDK vs 7MT wars will finally be over.

Let the good times roll...

http://ecomento.com/2014/05/07/next-...car-ruled-out/

 

I can also see the day where people who want to drive their own car will be compared to Fred Flinstone, mocked, and self driving cars will be phased out. Why introduce human error when you can increase efficiency, reduce errors/accidents, and free people up to do things other than drive?

Some closed minded dinosaurs will resist at first, but a self driving sports car will shift instantaneously, find the perfect apex each time, brake at the optimal distance depending on track/vehicle conditions, and accelerate at the perfect time.

Maybe it will be an option at first, with track times of self driven vs. autonomous cars proudly displayed on marketing brochures and websites and the "performance" minded people will all buy the expensive autonomous cars because they want the best track times. You can sit back and marvel at how much fun it is to sit and watch the car go around the track faster than you ever could.

 

If you're not driving then I guess it's not really your lap time... it's the car's. So at what point would we call the sport of racing dead?

 

I agree.

There will be subsystems like PSM & PTM that maintain traction at all times.

There might even be a suspension management system called PASM that will prevent brakedive and automatically firm shocks when taking a fast turn.

Heck, there is even talk about something called PDCC which basically alter the spring rate of the car in real time.

They might even dream up something called PTV that will brake the inside wheel in a turn allowing the outer wheel to move faster and induce a yaw in conjunction with a limited slip diff which in itself will be controlled by computers infinitely varying the amount of torque.

Those future drivers are going to have it so easy to be able to have the car go faster than they ever could... Oh, wait...

 

Very very funny... I'm still trying to get used to electric winding windows and my wireless stereo

 

^^ PDCC has nothing to do with spring rate (that's PASM), it is electronic antiroll bars

I get the gist, but the article is full of inaccuracies. "first change to the flat six since the 912 in 1965"? guess they missed all those displacement changes, mfi, efi, obd, varioram, direct injection (and certainly not least) water cooling.

"porsche sees no need for a sub $70,000 car" you mean like the boxster, cayman, cayenne and macan?

 

You are correct on PDCC (although the effect is not too different from firmer and softer springs) but I was using some artistic license to make a point.

PASM alters shock firmness, not spring rate btw.

 

I'm assuming that going hybrid increases fuel mileage/CAFE standards. I don't see that being a bad thing as the new trio of hybrid hypercars are certainly showing that Omigod! speeds can be achieved with some electric boost.

 

None of those systems are even close to what I'm talking about. Those are all still too dependent on driver input. You need to give a computer more control and take the error prone human out.

Google already has autonomous cars for around town and some manufacturers are already working on autonomous cars for the track. I learned from the MT vs PDK debate that getting the fastest time and convenience is more important to most people than the process of driving, so getting the person out of the way completely is the logical conclusion.

 

I prefer mySELF DRIVING my car.

who would ever want to post the following in the future?:

I just picked up my self-driving 911 this week -what a great car! I put the dog in the passenger seat and sent the vehicle out for a two hour drive to start breaking it in. The view here at home from the remote camera was awesome. The computer readout said the car likes the PDK in automatic mode the best. The pre-programmed/hard-wired break-in should be done in a few weeks, then I plan to send it out to the track with instructions to really open it up. I'll post a report when it gets back.

 

Nah.. I decided to get my selfdriving 911 without the remote camera option.

I prefer to be involved in the driving experience by sitting and watching the world go by. In fact last weekend the girlfriend came along and we decided to climb into the back seat while the car was driving itself... Ah.. ok.. never mind .. should have ordered the remote camera option.

 

I'm glad at least some people understand the slippery slope towards even greater loss of involvement/control that "enthusiast" cars are starting to head down.

 

+1. Some people apparently just want to live in the last century. Maybe they should get cars with manual windows, manual crank starters, and old-style washboards for washing their clothes too (don't tell me you don't see how it's related!), because we all know that autonomous electric vehicles (PAEV optioned?) are faster on the track and every bit as involving! Great in traffic, too.

 

Who needs cars, at all?

 

No MT vs PDK debate maybe, but seems like we will be debating whether +/- in the S and Turbo is better, or -/± in the GT3 is proper.

Personally, I like -/+ . it is just more intuitive to pull down to shift up on the PDK. I feel like it better mirrors my MT.