How does advanced driving deal with a modern manual gearbox
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:13 am
Forgive me for a long post.
I spent a few weeks driving my son's Porsche GT4. This has shift indicators and a switchable autoblip system. The shift indicators tell you to change up from 5th to 6th just under 30, reducing the revs from 1,400 to 1,200. I think the system is probably set to tell you to change up whenever the revs in the new gear will be at least 1,200, so long as you are not accelerating firmly. I never saw it tell me to change down.
The car has enough torque that it does not struggle in the recommended rev regime, and gentle acceleration is possible. However, you probably won't be surprised that I ignored the shift indicators, and often chose a more flexible gear than the system would have recommended. Is that compatible with advanced driving, which at least pays lip service to economical driving?
And now the autoblip system. When switched on, this system blips the revs as you change down into a lower gear. It gives a great sounding blip to a perfectly matched rev level for the new gear. If you complete the gear change and let the clutch out quickly you achieve a great sounding and perfectly rev matched gear change. Two questions arise: do you use the system at all, and if you do how and when do you change gear.
On the first, do you use the system at all, again you probably won't be surprised that I didn't. One of the main reasons that I enjoy driving a manual car is that I enjoy the challenge of accurate rev matching. If I am going to let the computer rev match for me then I might as well drive a car without a clutch pedal - and having had the privilege recently of driving a GT3 RS (dual clutch only available) as well as the GT4, I would say that I found the otherwise less special GT4 more enjoyable precisely because of the manual gearbox. However, I have to confess that however good my rev matching is, it is not as perfect nor as sonorous as the computer's autoblip; so I have to ask myself whether it is advanced to switch off a brilliant driving aid available in the car.
Now the question of how you use the system, if you decide to do so. To benefit from the system's accurate rev matching, you don't want to have your foot on the accelerator when you change down - otherwise you are interfering with the system. I normally change down according to the System after completing the speed phase of the system, and when I am ready to pick up the drive in the new gear. With autoblip, I felt you obtained the best results by changing down during the speed phase while slowing for a hazard, not waiting until you are ready to go back on the accelerator. I found autoblip works best if you don't separate brakes from gears. So if you do decide to use the system, what would be the advanced way to use it?
(By the way, I took a Rospa retest in the GT4. I explained the system to the examiner, and left it switched off as normal. He did not make any comment about it).
I spent a few weeks driving my son's Porsche GT4. This has shift indicators and a switchable autoblip system. The shift indicators tell you to change up from 5th to 6th just under 30, reducing the revs from 1,400 to 1,200. I think the system is probably set to tell you to change up whenever the revs in the new gear will be at least 1,200, so long as you are not accelerating firmly. I never saw it tell me to change down.
The car has enough torque that it does not struggle in the recommended rev regime, and gentle acceleration is possible. However, you probably won't be surprised that I ignored the shift indicators, and often chose a more flexible gear than the system would have recommended. Is that compatible with advanced driving, which at least pays lip service to economical driving?
And now the autoblip system. When switched on, this system blips the revs as you change down into a lower gear. It gives a great sounding blip to a perfectly matched rev level for the new gear. If you complete the gear change and let the clutch out quickly you achieve a great sounding and perfectly rev matched gear change. Two questions arise: do you use the system at all, and if you do how and when do you change gear.
On the first, do you use the system at all, again you probably won't be surprised that I didn't. One of the main reasons that I enjoy driving a manual car is that I enjoy the challenge of accurate rev matching. If I am going to let the computer rev match for me then I might as well drive a car without a clutch pedal - and having had the privilege recently of driving a GT3 RS (dual clutch only available) as well as the GT4, I would say that I found the otherwise less special GT4 more enjoyable precisely because of the manual gearbox. However, I have to confess that however good my rev matching is, it is not as perfect nor as sonorous as the computer's autoblip; so I have to ask myself whether it is advanced to switch off a brilliant driving aid available in the car.
Now the question of how you use the system, if you decide to do so. To benefit from the system's accurate rev matching, you don't want to have your foot on the accelerator when you change down - otherwise you are interfering with the system. I normally change down according to the System after completing the speed phase of the system, and when I am ready to pick up the drive in the new gear. With autoblip, I felt you obtained the best results by changing down during the speed phase while slowing for a hazard, not waiting until you are ready to go back on the accelerator. I found autoblip works best if you don't separate brakes from gears. So if you do decide to use the system, what would be the advanced way to use it?
(By the way, I took a Rospa retest in the GT4. I explained the system to the examiner, and left it switched off as normal. He did not make any comment about it).