QUOTE(theer @ Feb 26 2020, 06:55 AM)
The "it's faster and thus better" argument kills me. Manual gearbox is another way to connect with the car. For me that's vitally important. Paddle shifting is not the same.. not even close. With a stick, I rarely forget what gear I'm in, with my 8-spd Audi SQ5 I NEVER know what gear I'm in without looking at the display. (Yes, I know the Audi is not a PDK unit, but it is a pretty quick & crisp shifting autobox).
PDK (and other dual clutch units) are superb, but just another insulator, removing yet another piece of driving enjoyment. For me. Glad to hear there are enough others that feel the same way to encourage some manufactures to keep offering a stick shift in sports cars.
^ Fully agreed.
After thinking about
why I felt the way I did, I realized a sport car driver really only has five primary controls available: steering, shifter, and three pedals. An automatic transmission (which is what PDK really is) aces two of those—or 40% of a driver's interface with the car...or 50% of a car's hand controls and 33% of its foot controls. For some, this is a non-issue. And, on a track or autocross course or autobahn, I prefer PDK. There are also some cars that are either so fast or simply more in the character of PDK where PDK makes sense...but none of them appeal to me as much for fun driving as a car with three pedals. It's a very personal thing, and I can see where a V8 914 with big power and PDK could be an absolute
blast[u]. It's a ton of power in such a light car...there will be plenty to keep on top of mentally, and that's where PDK really helps...this besides its speed of shifting, availability of gears, tight gear stack, etc.
QUOTE(thelogo @ Feb 26 2020, 07:03 AM)
So when did the true manuel trans reach its zenith
And manufactures stop trying to improve it....?
Carrera gt ?
Acura nsx ?
CGT shifter is kinda neat, being short side to side and long in the fore-aft movements...but I wouldn't say it's Porsche's greatest, or one of the greatest. Among those I've tried, four stand tall above the rest in terms of feel of shifter/fun in use:
Porsche GT4 (sublime, but you rarely need to use it with 2nd good to 82+ mph and 3rd good to 112 mph)
Honda S2000 (the gold standard until GT4, and maybe still equal despite being different)
Audi R8 (prefer to Ferrari gated shifters)
Jag E-type (I was amazed by this...)
There are some other great ones, but these really stood out to me.