Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfectlap
Doesn't PDK use the bizzarely anti-intuitive same side forward and back shifting vs the customary left and right side paddle conifg? Jack Villeneuve had that weird one hand set up on his BAR F1 car. Mayne he's on the Porsche slush box development team! LOL
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Yes it does. But I think it's a bit subjective and depends on your prior experience--esp if you've never used such a tranny before. At first it was odd. But I got used it and was able to click off shifts without thinking. In fact, I was started using my right thumb to upshift and left index finger to down shift! I think the lack of paddles is more of a problem then the forward up/back down situation because you can only use them while hands are at 10 and 2. Now, in that position, the buttons are incredibly ergonomic as your fingers fit into them perfectly. But I think it's unacceptable not having nice large paddles (a la ferrari) that cover a wide arc. My wifes GTI DSG tranny uses the same forward up/back down for the console shift lever, so I think that made it more natural for me (even tho the GTI steering paddles are right up, left down). Maybe the porsche arrangement is designed to cover both right and left handed people? does a lefty find right up, left down unintuitive? dunno.
Due to the button arrangement, I bet 99% of the time people will just leave it in auto mode until the aftermarket paddle fix is out or porsche fixes it themselves. So if you're unhappy enough that you don't get to use clutch and work the gates, you'll probably be even less so since you won't enjoy clicking your own gears. I hope Porsche has already started the development work on paddles, otherwise we wont see it for a few years. Still I plan to get one and hope there is a Porsche or aftermarket fix. There is already an aftermarket one out for the 911:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/03/all-thumbs-no-problem-gemballa-f1-steering-wheel-for-porsche-9/
My $0.02