Quote:
Originally Posted by captainaudio
I was involved in a conversation with a group of professional drivers at an event I attended recently. These were guys who have raced (and won) at LeMans, Sebring, Daytona and the Indy 500 and a few of them competed in Formula 1. Several of them were national champions in various race series and most of them are currently employed testing cars for manufacturers and auto magazines.
I asked one of them (who happened to be the Senior Skip Barber Instructor who helped me learn how to heel and toe and double clutch) how he liked the DCT in the E92 M3 he drives. His answer was "It shifts better than I can".
There was a general consensus that MTs were enjoyable and involving but when I brought up the issue of control not one of them felt that an MT gave more control than a paddle shifted transmission.
I had a similar conversation with one of the drivers from team RLL whose personal car is an E92 M3 with DCT,
I tend to give the opinions of these pros more weight than the opinions of random posters on an Internet forum.
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But you aren't a pro driver. These guys drives cars for a living. They don't need an engaging weekend canyon carver.
Like I said, of course DCT is faster. Again I am so tired of hearing this argument, you guys aren't trying to shave seconds off your run to the grocery store so who cares if it's faster?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by captainaudio
My experience with high performance driving schools has shown me that it is surprisingly high. They may be able to smoothly start from a stop and get from one gear to another but many have no idea how to heel and toe or even rev match a downshift. In many cases they spend a lot of time in the wrong gear. Knowing how to operate a clutch pedal does not make you Juan Pablo Montoya.
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That's the opposite of what I'm saying. Everyone defends DCT because it is faster. What I'm saying is why does everyone think they run the Nurburgring every weekend and need to shift faster? Manual is slower. There's no way you can argue DCT is a more engaging experience because it is computer driven and disconnected.
My experience here in Alberta is that most DCT drivers cannot drive manual and are too ashamed to admit it. This usually comes out at HPDE. But they are quick to point out that DCT "shifts faster than manual" and "saves fuel". Which.. is hilarious because you own an M car.. and care about fuel consumption.. but that's another argument.