AlterZgo

That's my experience also. Only Sport+ turns the dampers to full firm. Normal and Sport keeps damper in same settings (or at least the damper light does not illuminate and the ride feels about the same in both sport and normal modes).

992.Turbo.S

This is also what my SA told me but there is a noticeable difference in the ride quality when switching from normal to sport, the ride is definitely more compliant in normal mode compared to sport mode and then stiffer yet in sport plus.
I’ve experienced this with both 991.2 and 992 platforms and assumed the PASM is either not active in Normal mode or there are three settings for stiffness.

CanAutM3

Again, PASM is always active.

The Porsche literature is quite clear on this, there are two possible programs for the PASM: Normal and Sport. There might be some other factors that have an effect on your perception, such as the dynamic engine mounts for instance.

aggie57

As @CanAutM3 and @AlterZgo say PASM is always active; it's physically impossible for it not to be as the system is a combination of hardware (the shocks and associated kit) and software. For it to be 'not active' would be akin to swapping out the shocks for static ones.

There are only 2 settings for the system, normal or sports/firm. I will say though that at least in my car if I manually switch to the shocks to firm using the dash switch the car remembers that at startup unlike what happens when the drive mode is switched to Sport+.

One more comment - stiffer shocks do not always mean stiffer ride. On some surfaces, say ones with short/sharp bumps, the stiffer setting can improve the ride by controlling rebound better and reducing the 'bobbing' you get on those roads.