A turbo charged car with a high torque figure and manual is not really fun. Have you guys driven the 997 GT2 RS? Amazing machine but you need to pay attention what you're doing. It is fun up to a point but then it gets serious.
Manual is fun when you are alone on the road/track and you can play with the car. Manual gets in the way big time when you use your car as a daily driver or you want to be faster than others.
I love my GT500 but manual is wrong on so many levels for this car.
Yes, people should be able to choose but for car manufacturers, offering both options (manual and something like PDK) is very expensive and requires some compromises in the setup of the cars.
The reason Porsche offered manual in the GT4 isn't exactly to make people happy (sorry to say that) but with PDK, the GT4 would have been too fast in comparison to the GT3 and even GT3 RS. This is no secret.
Also, the GT4 has a n/a engine with a limited amount of torque, traction is very good and the car is easy to control with manual.
Maybe when we meet, Bluelines can try my GT500 with manual...and 1076 Nm torque. Trust me, this is no fun anymore, this is a killing machine you need to be very very careful with. Since the old clutch didn't cope with this kind of torque, I had to replace it with a two disc clutch, which basically acts like an on/off switch. No fun in this if you use this car as a daily driver. As a weekend fun toy however, it is amazing because it is "different".
People who love cars know what they prefer under certain circumstances, sometimes it is PDK and sometimes it is manual. Those who have only manual on their mind and completely oppose PDK or such, should actually ask themselves why. I doubt it has only driving fun reasons but some psychological background which may be related to manhood and such (especially in the US). Driving stick in the US is something special, in Germany every beginner and every granny at age 90 can drive manual. Nothing special about it.
Giving people a choice to choose sounds reasonable but when car manufacturers have to compromise the setup or even the performance of the car just to "fit in" manual, this gets ridiculous.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet, Porsche Macan Turbo, Ford Mustang GT500 Shelby SVT (2014), Mini JCW (2015), Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT (2014)