VOTE: Which is True About PDK?

Much has been criticized about the PDK taking all of the driver involvement away from you. I'm just wondering which of the below is really true: 1). It's a totally automatic transmission (highly-developed, of course) and makes all of the decisions decisions for you. It decides when to upshift, downshift, not shift and does all of it without your needing to press in a clutch, shift the gears without grinding them and maintaining proper revs if driving in a spirited manner. 2). It's a manu-matic double-clutch automatic transmission that, when the driver intentionally decides to leave it in manual mode, does NOT shift for you. You still have to decide when to upshift, downshift or not shift. The driver may cause the shifting by reaching for and pushing the gear stick on the center console or pressing the buttons on the steering wheel, otherwise the car stays in the same gear indefinately (unless damage from approaching redline or lugging is impending). The only thing different in this mode from a manual 6-speed gearbox is that the driver does not press in a clutch pedal; the driver-induced shifts happen in a few hundredths of a second (faster than a human's left leg & right arm can do it); the revs are always perfectly matched; and you can't accidentally grind the gears under any circumstances. Please clarify which of the above it correct? Because it seems that if 2). above is true, the driver still has lots of involvement (both tactile, strategic and intellectual) and when driving in a spirited manner can probably produce measurably faster lap or autocross times.

I believe that both of your statements are true.

Threads merged... brad

Both your statements are, of course, true: the first if left in auto & the second when moved to manual. I've been driving an '09 911S w/PDK (& LSD) loaner for the past 3 days and I must say PDK is very impressive and the 385 hp S is very quick, but (1) the 911 is less involving than my CS and (2) the PDK is less involving than a manual. I was quite happy to be back in my "lowly" CS ... I missed it ... and much prefer it.

I have a question about how PDK behaves on downshifts. Let's say I'm barreling along a straight in 4th and late-braking into a 3rd gear corner. In my red mist, I request a downshift which, if executed, would over-rev the engine. Does PDK 1) ignore my downshift request, 2) execute my request and over-rev the engine, or 3) wait until the revs drop sufficiently and then execute my request? If, as I suspect, the last option is correct, then I suppose you could request multiple downshifts and then let PDK sort the whole business out for you.

1) ignore my downshift request. You wouldn't want an over-rev nor a delayed, unexpected downshift, which could come at an inopportune moment. Same thing on upshifts - it'll ignore commands that would drop revs too much.

Thanks for your insight!