I see what you did there...

 

gotta watch out for that 3-4 shift, might get a bit tricky

 

wonder if the US cars will get shafted on launch control?

 

Rod-

I think the M5 has come with a 7SP manual for 4-5 years.

 

Are you sure the Vette and Gt2 modulated the clutch with their launch control? I know these cars modulated power/throttle, but for the car to have any involvement with the clutch would essentially require a system that is involved as a single clutch automated manual... I will go ahead and say, with a high level of confidence, none of these car's launch controls make any adjustments to the clutch engagement.

 

You thought wrong.

 

Doubt it. We typically see US models lacking some of the exterior/interior options for a time, but rarely a technical/functional feature. This would imply that the US model had a different tranny or different software for the car. I HIGHLY doubt there will be a different tranny version for the US, and see no reason why they would change the software to remove LC.

 

It doesn't look like there is launch control with the 7 speed... From the English brochure:

"In combination with PDK, the Sport
Chrono Package has two additional
functions for a sporty drive that borders
on a motorsport experience. The first
is ‘Launch Control’, which can be used
on the track to achieve the best possible
standing start – a racing start."

It also looks like you don't get the extra display attached to the steering wheel unless you get PDK. Of course all the reports were that there would be LC on all cars... So I don't know what's going on.

 

Remove Americans' ability to drag race??? No way in hell! What would people do? Roll race?

(ahhh nevermind)

 

for the vette, yes, I watched a video about it GM produced

 

Here is a short video from Porsche about their 7-speed manual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eNAUihkOR0 and the new COASTING feature of PDK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIlarlJRqNs

 

Source? Everything I've read says it only modifies fuel & spark to modulate torque...

As a matter of fact, you can retrofit it to '09 cars without changing anything besides the ECU.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...-corvette.html

Some quick research shows that they switched ABS units in '09 so it can't be used on earlier years, but that simply effects wheel speed readings... There were no hardware changes associated with the clutch and I HIGHLY doubt they built these cars for 5 years before they finally decided to unlock a feature that had been an ABS and ECU update away the whole time.

 

Thanks for the videos - at first I was thinking "I want the manual" - but after seeing the videos of PDK you get Launch Control and the new coasting feature - may have to go wtih PDK (with the optional paddles - can't stand the standard ones).

 

here is one of them, there is another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9wRW-Ysxck

 

Maybe I missed it, but there is no mention of the car control modulating the clutch during the launch control procedure. It was pretty clearly stated that the driver sidesteps the clutch and the engine modulates torque, via spark and fuel, to control wheel spin. If the Corvette could do this they may as well go ahead and offer a full SMG as clutch modulation is 90% of the work involved with implementing one. To the best of my knowledge, no manual transmission in a production car modulates the clutch during its launch control procedure (RUF offered a clutchless manual YEARS ago, but that is the exception).