GTlover:
bhnyc:
To add my two cents (and trying to be pragmatic)...I Love the track, I love to push my car on the track and if that is a good use of how I spent my money is my own business. But how often can anyone, who is not racing for a profession get to the track. I get there 6 to 8 times when in season. I am sure a lot of you get there many multiples of this. But there are few people buying a GT3 who are doing 180 days plus a year. Therefore, you are buying a car that will be driven on and off the track. To me, the manual transmission makes, Sunday drives more engaging. I love driving a manual and am sad by the direction all car companies are going. The idea that I would buy a different transmission to shave seconds off my lap time is not relevant. If ever get to a point in my career when I can do more than 30 days at a a track in a year, I will buy a cup car or a pure racer.
I am guessing my life style is relevant to more people on this forum than not, so it is hard to say. Therefore, I disagree that people should say manual is an old technology because we are all trying to shave tenths of a second off our track time. I think many of us still use our cars off the track and here the manual is more engaging for my dollar.
Exactly my opinion... All this discussion about shaving a few tenth on the track, a very good race driver will destroy with a 997.2 GT3 most (and un-experienced) 991 GT3 buyers anyway. The limits of a car are mostly depending on the driver..some just believer here with PdK GT3 they are future F1 drivers.
Your post is one of the best here for me..
I have had 6 911 variants all with a manual, as well as a Modena 360, Evo X, various BMWs and an S2000, and tracked almost all of them. To me, I actually look forward to the new PDK box in the GT3 for the track. I think there was a recent quote from a pro (don't remember where I read it) that goes like this: "if you need a manual to feel connected to the car on track, then you are doing something wrong". Freeing up 'bandwidth' to focus on the line, turn in. . . basically all driver inputs is compelling to me.
However, I will absolutely miss the manual on the road. That's where the extra control over the car with being able to modulate the clutch will be missed.
I think I'm the opposite of a lot of people when it comes to this debate: manual for the street, auto for the track.
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997 GT3, in yeller
4.8is (daily beater)
E36 M3 ltw, Euro motor (track car)