Drove a 997Mk2 with PDK yesterday (I know I am a bit late as PDK has been around for quite some time now...).
I am impressed.
PDK is an excellent achievement, compared to BMW's DKG (as installed in the M3) PDK is significantly better:
- No throttle lag, the car demonstrates an immediate throttle response. This is one of my major complaints about the BMW system. In comparison, the M3 with DKG feels very "dull" at slow speeds (inner city driving etc.). In the M3 you need to press the throttle some cms (at least it feels so) to get a "significant" reaction from the car. That is really annoying. You can compare this feel to driving a Diesel car...
- While throttle response is excellent with PDK (thus, fast take-offs are easy to accomplish
) the 997Mk2 can also be driven very smoothly, the gear changes being incredibly soft. Excellent stuff!
- Manual shifts are executed instantaneously (as compared to the M3 DKG where manual upshifts take far too long). This is on par (if not better) than Ferrari's F1 gear-box.
- The shift buttons (steering wheel) are not that bad! Even after 15 minutes you start getting used to them. I like this concept.
- The speed of shifting is phenomenal: driving in 7th gear, pushing the throttle fully the car changes to 2nd gear without the slightest delay and extremely smoothly. This is superb.
In summary, PDK is light years away from BMW's DKG in the M3. Also, after driving this Carrera I have to state how refined even this "standard" Porsche is. Excellent job