Gorsh said:
Great news!
How did the driving experience go? How was the manual gearbox? I like the idea of manual, but the 981 has too high gearing on the manual box - are the 991 ratios OK?
The driving experience was just brilliant I really enjoyed the day. It gave me the opportunity to do stuff I would never want to learn or do on the open road in any car let alone a 100 grand Porsche. It's not a track day as the two circuits have been designed to imitate country roads and of course you also have a variety of skid pan areas as well.
Most of my fast driving has been done in a hugely modified Lotus Exige and my experience has been mainly everything the Alps has to offer. Some 45k miles over the last 15 years if I were to think about it.. So the two circuits that Porsche had created were very much up my street.
I had read a lot of bad press about the gearbox and was really quite concerned that I was making a huge mistake not going for the PDK. so the Driving experience was really understanding what the manual was like rather than getting comfortable with the PDK as a manual is really where my heart is. In addition having driven a 997.1 C4S on a manual for the past five years I was interested in the difference with the gearbox to the 991.2. Although I see the box on the 997 as ok I wouldn't classify it as exceptional. The gear throw is long and a bit loose compared to the short throw I have on the Exige.
Well I am not sure what all the fuss is about and why folk don't like the manual on the 991. Considering I haven't driven one before I didn't have a misplaced gear all day. The throw was short and light with a good feeling of engagement. I never had any doubt which gear I was in. Admittedly I never got beyond 4th but I never got lost in the box.
Towards the end of the session I was really getting into my stride and focussing on trail braking, drifting the rear end whilst exiting corners ( something that is not hugely recommend on an Exige on high mountain passes)and other such new skills. The gearbox was the furthest from my mind which made it good in my eyes. I simply did not have a problem in anything I wanted it to do and just didn't have to think about it. People complain about the gate on 7th well I can't think when I last did a block change from 6th to a lower gear. I always prefer to heal and toe down through each gear. I am driving a sports car for heavens sake not a VW Polo.
The clutch, well that is considerably lighter than the 997 C4S. Which I know is heavy but has never really caused me an issue. The pedals seem to be slightly better positioned than on the 997.1 as the heal and toeing was not the angled affair it is on the 997 but more of an in line angling of the foot as it is on the Exige. My preferred technique. The car I drove wasn't fitted with Chrono so auto blip functionality wasn't there. With Chrono fitted my instructor was certain that is was switched off in normal mode but was unsure if it was something you could dial out on Individual mode. Time will tell.
So in summary I am now not concerned that I have made a mistake. The PDK is an outstanding gearbox, I accept that, but IMHO it slightly detracts from the raw engagement with the car something which I personally realish in the driving experience.
Finally and I am conscious that I have rambled on, the Exige is the only car that I have ever felt that I strap it on rather sitting in it. The 991.2 is the second such car. I never felt that in the 997.