S'vette

Well that was my point the same driver in a manual vette and then a dct vette with the same mods which would win? Comparing to other cars with dct is hard to decide if that was a factor or not but comparing a vette to a vette with the same mods would be fair to see if the dct helps with the same driver.

S'vette

The new Audi S6 is suppose to be a killer with its TT.

Achmed

I've never driven a manual transmission in my life and would not know how to either. I may have to learn someday, but I'm hoping I don't have to! So I'd be greatly disappointed if the C7 was offered in manual only, but fortunately I find that highly unlikely.

JerriVette

The technology is such today that even though I love driving my manual C6 ....the days of a manual transmission having a real performance advantage is on its way out...

even on road courses, autox's.....and madman street driving....

Well see what the new c7 offers up in the first couple of years of production.

I believe the C7 will have the luxury that your after...Harry....as well as the good looks and high performance...

couple of more weeks and we'll know a lot more.............

Reciprocal

Except your hypothetical Corvette with dct does not exist, yet the other cars do and in fact have also been beaten by the Z06 with less hp, no dct, no awd etc. So would the Vette be better with dct? It's possible but it hasn't worked out that way for the others.

S'vette

Thats why I asked you how the autos faired to the manuals. If they did just as good or better than the dct would help even more. If you had read my postings I said comparing one car to another about the dct was not good so I wanted to see how the vettes did against each other. It was a curious question not one that was meant to argue a point.

TC233

I have always found that car owners always say the 1/4 mile does not matter after they lost lol It only really really matters if they won, then the testosterone comes out

JJPonzini

The first year or two will be base coupe and vert. I don't believe at the price point of these cars a DCT is going to be included. Later, when the high performance models are introduced that are designed to compete with and be priced similarly to a supercar, we should see a DCT. Ferrari doesn't build a 50k car and that is why they have DCT. Performance= $$$$.

S'vette

There are plenty of plain Jane sporty cars out there with DCT. Its almost a common thing now like the one touch up on the window, wait we dont even have that. lol. But GM doesnt have to reinvent the wheel, just buy the tech thats out there and apply it to all their autos and that would help keep the cost down. Maybe increase the cost by 1K give or take.

Supercars prices are highly over rated as they play on the rich, they are making cars today that are keeping up with supercars in performance and going beyond in interior and for less. The new Audi S6 will do 0 60 in 3.6 secs and ungoverned do like 190 mph. Has Quattro, mag ride, DSG, and all the goodies for the price of a Z06. They spread the wealth to make their cars high quality and a reasonable price. The GT500 will hang with supercars, hitting 200 mph stock. I know they dont have DCT.

It will take some time but GM will catch up in the tech world without going supercar prices.

Bill Dearborn

Actually it really isn't all that important. The real test of the transmissions is in smooth rev matched downshifting, holding in gear instead of upshifting at the wrong time and quick up shifts that provide smooth power delivery throughout the engines rpm band. With the current transmission choices the manual is the only one that comes close to meeting those goals but requires a lot of driver involvement to be top notch. A DCT reduces the driver involvement by eliminating the need to do heel toe down shifting, it changes the gear shift operation from moving a stick in the center console some number of inches to select gears to a quick flip of the fingers on the paddles. The DCT gets around the auto's issues with delayed shifts under braking and unintended up-shifts when coming out of a corner. I have ridden in some 6 speed autos that have been reprogrammed and shift much better but they still are not the same as a properly implemented DCT. I have ridden in several 6 speed auto Corvettes being pushed to the limits by competent drivers followed by riding in BMW M3s or in some cases M5s (sweet, sweet ride) being driven by equally competent drivers and there is no comparison. The DCT cars just perform better. The Vettes may have a better lap time due to being more powerful or lighter but you can just tell when one car is performing better with what it has than another car is doing with what it has.

Bill

Reciprocal

The auto Corvettes have not been in the mix as far as I know on any of the road course tests.

Reciprocal

Yes and as you know, the extra time required to perform a properly executed heel and toe downshift compared to a dct downshift does not penalize the lap time since it comes under braking.

Two things I noted when driving my Lexus IS-F (with the Aisin 8-spd and flappy paddles) are that:

1.) The steering ratio is not fast enough to permit not moving your hands on the wheel in the tightest turns.

2.) The paddles do not remain stationary like in true race cars. If the wheel is turned 180 degrees, and you have to move your hands, the paddles are reversed but your hands are not. Rather than searching for the paddles when my hands were busy, I would end up reaching for the console shifter instead. I did not see this as a significant disadvantage, and similarly have not perceived a problem with having a hand on the shift lever of a manual.

GordyRay

I have had a new 991 911 S for two weeks now. For the first time in 15 cars, I got it with the DCT called PDK. I have to tell you it is just amazing. Living with the terrible Washington D.C. traffic, this DCT tranny in the Porsche is mind blowing. It is so much fun to use all the different options depending on traffic. My largest concern now is that my wife will ask to drive the car. I have always had a manual STD tranny so the wife just drove her car. I currently have a ZO6 and I will be trading it in for a 427 that is on order. I will be happy to be rowing my own gears in that car, but I will say that Corvette needs to bring a DCT to the table for those that don't want a manual. One other option is what someone already mentioned, in the Feb issue of Motor Trend, there is an article on the Audi S8 and they have great things to say about the 8 speed auto which is not a DCT. When I picked up my new 991 the dealership had me watch a video on the PDK. They show the gears changing in less than 100 MS or as quick as you blink your eye. When you don't have to let up on the gas it makes for some really fun and spirited driving. 19 more days until the big date & C7 Reveal. Can't wait to see the final result.
Merry Christmas to you all!!!


Fuze

musclecar6

Agreed. From the rumors we keep hearing, sounds like GM may have cheaped out with offering the Aisin 8 spd auto in the C7, rather than a DCT. No problem though if so, as BMW is coming out with the new M3 next year with a twin turbo V6 & will have a DCT available. Since I already have a 10 GS 6 spd manual coupe with LPE supercharger I'm going to keep, makes my decision easy to replace my 06 C6/A6/F55 coupe with a new M3 with a modern DCT rather than a C7 with yesterday's auto tranny.

S'vette

Cool thanks.

The Highlander

If sales flop... and people cry "we want a DCT" we will get a DCT...

But if the new corvette sells 30k units ... why put a DCT? GM will think they are doing things right.

The problem with corvette is: even though its GM's Halo car, its still controlled by the bean counters.

Whoever denies the advantages of the DCT is just being blindfolded and whoever doesn't want it, I am sure GM can offer it in manual form....

People don't realize that the Corvette is still a platform and that people mod the car. Having a DCT will make you win at race events and similar competitions.

With Turbo's/DCTs/AWD you get a much more street friendly crotch rocket. Isn't that what a lot of people want too?

JerriVette

The review of the Audi s8 with it's 8 speed auto by the car magazines clearly states that even though Audi has wonderful Dual clutch transmissions it's highestnperformer the new s8 is better with the 8 speed tq convertor automatic than the car would have been with a DCT ...

Their words ...not mine.

At the very least gets GM a time out to at least let us hear how great the new automatic corvette transmission can be....

Three years for both automatic transmissions the new corvette will offer.

LS1LT1

Well, I too would love a sequential/DCT type trans in my next Corvette as well but I wouldn't exactly call a brand new 8 speed "yesterday's" automatic transmission.
There are quite few supposedly 'cutting edge' high end German and Japanese vehicles currently using the very same thing as well.

SCM_Crash

LOL! I was thinking the same thing.

SCM_Crash

I've got to say I'm really getting sick of hearing this "DCT > Torque Converter" Auto crap.

I'd bet the majority of you don't even know what actually makes them different. And the truth is, hardly any of you knows what would make one better than the other. The fact remains that they both have their pros and cons, and I'd even bet that the majority of people bitching that the C7 doesn't have a DCT also hasn't driven a sports car with a DCT.

The performance gains on a DCT range from hardly noticeable to "that's amazing" and if GM put in the "that's amazing" DCT, I really doubt most of you wouldn't bitch about a DCT option that adds $8,000 to the price of the car over a standard auto, which already will add cost to the car over the manual. I certainly wouldn't spend $10K for a transmission. And really think about this for a sec... How many of you will actually take your DCT Corvette to the track to make it do what it's meant to do?

GM's 6-speed auto was actually a great transmission. It just wasn't programmed right. But a torque converter style auto is a lot more forgiving to crappy programming than a DCT. Now if you really want to find out how bad programming can affect no-torque converter style autos, you need to drive a Smart car, or an M3 with their first attempt at a DCT.