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New GTS C4S

Enjoy :thumb:
 
Sounds a wonderful car - can't wait for mine, due at the OPC in late July.
 
Just watched a Nürburgring lap in a GTS:

https://youtu.be/mRMJfjhVFBQ

Crazy stuff, no wonder it feels a bit rapid on the road... :eek: When you look at the cars that are slower with 2-300bhp more it makes you realise what a good job those Porsche engineers do.
 
Ooooh these GTS's look great!

That 'ring video and the times are super impressive; I wonder if that was on normal P-zero's as I think that time is faster than all GT3's bar the very latest .2 and all Turbo's up to 991.1.

Getting me very excited for mine which is being built next week on the 19th, so should be early June for me :thumbs:
 
Late June, early July for mine!

PS - good write up Ed! :thumb:
 
EdTheDuck said:
I'm really glad I specced the PDK because I simply don't have the skills to change gear at the rate it does, sometimes several in one go. Have yet to take it out of 'normal" but the gearbox is almost telepathic in adjusting to your driving so I haven't felt the need to intervene in any way. The revs pick up so quickly at the upper end that I'd be forever changing early or hitting the limiter.

I recently tried a manual and PDK GTS4 back to back. I've got PDK on my 991.1 C4s and my previous cars were an e92 M DCT, an e92 M3 Manual and an e46 M3 CSL with SMG. So I've had a foot in both camps and would call myself a fan of both. I've also done some Caterham racing so I can H&T reasonably well and have always enjoyed the process of changing gear well.

I drove the PDK GTS4 first and loved it. Concerns about the swap to the 3.0TT melted away in a wave of glorious torque and it certainly didnt lack aural character. PDK felt so in tune with the car. One coherent accurate, focussed and immensely fast machine! I felt like my senses were on red alert driving it and whilst I could definitely have pushed a lot harder, the road was dispatched quickly and accurately.

We then did the same route in a manual GTS4. I was hyper excited to try a manual 911 as I had never driven one before. My immediate reaction was that the gear stick didn't sit in what I felt was a total comfortable position. It felt a bit high up relative to my seat position. My second impression was that the car felt about 15 years older tech wise. It just felt dated. That feeling seemed to permeate to the whole car. It just felt 'old' - despite being brand new!

I was also excited to see how rev matching worked, but after the first matched shift I just thought 'Meh' - with it working all you are doing it pushing a pedal and moving a lever. It just felt like a poor man's PDK. If you are going to have the car do the rev matching why not let it swap the cogs too as the process of pushing a pedal isn't exactly exciting. Slotting home a new gear with a rifle bolt gearbox maybe, but the actual box felt a lot less crisp than I expected. I think the box on my 1988 Mk1 MR2 was much more fun as indeed (perversely) is the manual box in the wife's Evoque!

People always say manuals are more engaging but I felt the opposite. I generally use PDK in manual and for me having to actually push the pedal and move the stick just got in the way and stopped me focusing on driving. I felt like I was being distracted and couldn't actually enjoy the chassis, engine or handling to the same extent as moving that stick became the predominant activity. With PDK the shifts 'just work' and it allowed me to focus much more accurately on braking, weight transfer, steering inputs, the road surface, corning lines and getting on the power. I genuinely felt like I was missing out on the real nuances of driving the road that I had enjoyed so much just 15 minutes earlier with PDK.

So for me PDK wins for involvement as well. It allows my senses to focus on all the other aspects of driving and the trade off of pushing a pedal and moving a stick couldn't make up for that loss.

Then we backed off and trundled along. At that point the manual box just became plain annoying as I am used to being able to pop PDK into full Auto and just relax. I cant conceive of why anyone would want a manual in traffic or doubly so in traffic jams. PDK has that covered along with better economy.

Horses for courses and I am sure others will have very different reactions, but it was a real revelation to me as the internet, youtube and mags would have you believe that Manual = involvement and PDK is for people not interested in driving. That SOOOO isn't true for me. I would say that manuals are for people who consider changing gear as one of the highlights of driving and enjoy practicing the art of perfecting it. And also for those paid to write articles and who aren't shelling out their own cash on the cars they are driving.

I've always loved changing gear and if I had a Caterham today would I would cherish a manual box. But after three years with a PDK I would have felt a total sense of loss had I gone with one on my GTS4.

Not what I had expected to happen at all - but I very quickly changed my order as I had specced a manual as it felt like the 'drivers thing to do' and I fancied a change. So glad I got to try first!
 

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