I'm against it because not only will it add 80 more lbs to an already hefty GT3, but there are several models equiped with PDK already and the GT3 is as daily driver friendly as it ever needs to get.

I see it as mostly NON track enthusiasts that want the PDK or those too lazy to learn to master a stick shift and get the real reward from driving a GT3. The GT3 was not made so anyone can get in it and go fast. PDK is a "do everything for me" feature, and I don't like it. If the GT3 was the only GT car, then fine, but I'd rather see it on the GT2 than EVER on a GT3.

PORSCHE ARE YOU LISTENING?!?!?!?!?!?

 

I hope so.........and while were at it no electric cars please!

 

I was at a Porsche World Roadshow event a few weeks ago and asked the same question to the factory test drivers. The answer was that the GT3 will NOT get PDK "because it is a man's car!", neither would the GT2. The Turbo will, though, but no idea about when it will come out.

Purists (of which I am), rejoice!!

Beyond the joke about the manliness of the GT3, Porsche wants it to remain the ultimate driver's car. It does not matter to them that it is not as fast around the Ring as a Turbo or a GT-R. The GT3 is about driver involvement and skills, not electronic gimmicks. I drove the PDK on the track and am very disappointed with its lack of feedback: just little bit of 'feel' shifting up, but none at all shifting down. I did several laps with it on, followed with several laps in full auto, and could not feel any difference. It is a brilliant Tiptronic, as far as I am concerned, something to spec on a Carrera S to use in the city and suburbs, but not on the track or open roads.

 

A real sequential is one thing, PDK is a horse of a different color though

 

I knew those Enzo's were for sissies.

 

I thought it was all Ferrari owners... Only joking...

Seriously though, a true sequential (dog) box like the cups cars/RSRs I can understand and would welcome in a gt3 or RS- as the case may be... But PDK? Why? You cant re-gear it for different tracks, the clutches certainly won't cope with the stresses and abuse of constant track use and they don't look servicable at a reasonable price...

If they throw PDK into a gt3, they'd may as well borrow some of those plastic pot plants from their mates at VW (beattle) to replace the wart... maybe even a Louie Vitton handbag in the trunk...

 

from the logic of this thread, then most Ferrari or Lambo owners should be women as they are not driving a manual.

I have no problem with PDK in a GT3. It has nothing to do with man or not, it is just a different choice of shifting. Don't have to make a big deal out of it.

 

How many Lambos and Ferrari's do you see at the track? Now how many GT3's do you see at the track?

If it was just about another way of shifting the GT3 would have had a torque converter in it for people like this before now.

 

if that is the case, why did porsche test the GTR and say that their lap times didn't match up w/the "published lap times"?

also, why does the 997 gt3 have traction control, where as the previous generation didn't?

dual clutch, although not the purists dream, is the future in cars. faster times, faster shifts, faster everything.

i love 6sp, but if dual clutch will make you quicker on the track, then we are moving in a positive direction.

also, PDK is just the starting point. who's to say that there isn't an update in the works, w/actual paddles. remember the 99-01 996 got the crappy Tiptronic and the 02+ got the better software. this could all be part of porsche's plans.

 

Did you miss the part where he said TURBO, which is what Porsche tested against the GT-R????

Notice no GT3 was at that test.

Fast drivers will be fast with or without PDK, and slow drivers will still be slow when it comes to a GT3. The gt3 can go fast while increasing your driving skills exponentially and is a yardstick for driver ability.

TC was put in the GT3 because so many people were tracking them on tracks around the world, some of which tougher than an amatuer driver can handle, and made a little softer to appeal to a broader market, which is a brilliant move by Porsche to sell more cars. Had nothing to do with making the car faster, only safer. PDK doesn't make anything safer.

 

Owning the 09 PDK 997S and the 6speed GT3RS I can tell you that their both so wonderful at what they do.... However even if it's a bit slower, I'd much rather work and feel at one with the car like I do in the RS and it's 6speed. That is still the best feeling transmission and clutch mechanism I've felt to date so it'd be sorely missed

 

TC and now PSM (gt3 997.2) were added not to aid faster times etc but to comply with increasingly stringent safety requirements by authorities across the world... I believe you will find that cars must have PSM like systems to be able to be sold in markets like the US and Aus markets from 2011 or they can't be road registered... It is for this reason that the gt3 has been given these driver aids...

 

I don't know if the GT3 market could really handle both manual and PDK anyways. I mean most of the people who want PDK in a GT3 want to daily drive it or garage queen it. The enthusiast market however will always be big for Porsche. The numbers for the GT3 would certainly have to increase to allow the influx of people who would have bought a base 911 with tons of upgrades but will now buy a GT3 because it looks sportier but is still convenient.

Frankly I don't think Porsche want's to test the market like that. I bet most of the people, which are likely still outnumbered, that want a PDK in a GT3 are coming from the states, who Porsche doesn't seem to take seriously when it comes to track opinions anyways (hence no sunroof delete on 997 and no roll bar option on 997 RS).

I bet the number of people who want PDK is outnumbered by people who don't want to even see the option on the car.

 

Very good point.

I would not look forward to GT3 PDK customers coming into the dealer pissing and moaning about this that and the other shifting issues, or being pissed when after several track events, they're stuck with a bill for repairs. And the whole "Formula 1 has paddles why can't I?" thing gets annoying as well. When you're a F1 or WRC caliper driver, then we'll talk.

Any enthusiast should get themselfs to a vintage race with older Grand Prix cars, hopefully with a good set of shoes in it, and listen to the beautiful sound of perfect, and importantly manual, downshifts. It's just a sound to die for, you'll spend the rest of your driving life hoping to recreate such a sound.

I like PDK, I'm thrilled the Tip is out, I can't wait to lunch a PDK turbo. I just don't want to see it in a GT3.

 

Exactly. And if you start equipping a GT3 with all kinds of luxuries and fancy schmancy options (splattering leather all over the place, plus all kinds of gadgets) you ll quickly end up in Turbo price-territory anyway.

And I doubt your average Carrera buyer can cope living with the GT3 suspension day-in day-out. I know that when I went to spec my Carrera 2S (i changed the order a few months later to a gt3) and I specced the -20mm SPASM that the salesman asked if I was really sure about it, because all of the clients that had it had sold their car sooner or later because it was too hard. I testdrove one without -20mm and for me the suspension was too soft (especially in non-sport mode, they should have made the non-sport as stiff as sport mode, and add a stiffer sport mode). But I am not your average 50 year old suit-and-tie businessman that wants a Porsche to drive to the beach on sunday .

Add on top of that the HUGE ground clearance of the GT3 (even with the noselift it will need paying attention) and the lower level of cabin noise insulation ... Well, you get the point