I live in the foothills west of Denver. My roads to town are quite curvery and many hairpin turns. Great sports car roads, but lots of blind corners. Getting my C8 out for the summer I have found that in D the transmission shifts down and up many times on the way. I have been driving in M and my transmission shifts much less. I call the DCT a 1800 rpm transmission as it strives to keep the revs low for better mileage. When I drive in M the transmission does shift down as my speed gets below 10 mph going into a tight turn. It stays in first or second coming out of the curve and is ready for me to shift up as I please. I can drive sedately in 3 or 4 all the way up my hills at less than 2500 rpm. I figure less DCT shifting I may get less wear on the transmission. I did not realize the Corvette would shift down automatically in Manual as the vehicle slows down. I was manually shifting down. It does so to prevent lugging the thing taking off from a stop sign. I'm just practicing with my Corvette and learning new things to make the drive more fun.
David

 

My problem with manual shifting in hairpins is the shift paddles are now upside down or more, and a little difficult to operate so I tend to redline but I probably just need more practice. I actually like that if you make a paddle shift error the car corrects it!.

 

The computer allows manual shifting, up or down, up to the point where it might hurt something, then intervenes.

 

I have only had my 2026 for a couple months and 800 miles, but it has never been in D, and never will.

 

One of the things I miss most from my Alfa are the column mounted paddles!

 

Mine just turned 3 months old and went over 900 miles today. I've been driving in manual the last week or so mainly just to keep it in V8 mode. When driving around locally, I mostly allow the car to do its own downshifting when approaching traffic lights and stop signs. I once shifted my Porsche PDK into 1st thinking it was 2nd and hit the limiter. It wasn't serious but did register as a level 1 on the computer. I normally shift up before 3500 RPM.

 

Try Z or Race mode. I use Z mode around town and it shifts almost as I would if I am doing the shifting manually. And you can still shift it up or down any time.

 

Yep getting over 60 years of every DD being a standard shift only drove in manual mode for a month with my 2020 C8 Z51. Then twice accelerated from a stop sign merging. in ~70 mph traffic. Upshift paddle out of position and hit rev limiter at ~35 mph in 1st. No fun traffic coming up fast behind. Now drive in Z-Mode power set to Max. DCT is smart enough to shift at 6500 rpm. And it doesn’t use silly 7th of crazy 8th gear with 0.33:1 overdrive. It is not fequently having to downshift. Like driving a more responsive car. Heck both 4th and 5th are OD. Good enough for me. Combined with Dif/Intermediate gear final ratio like most other cars I have owned. Don’t even have to downshift for turns as I always did with 60 years of standard shifts. Just apply the brakes aggressively it will downshift perhaps 2 gears rev matching each in the blink of an eye. Great fun

 

Same, I had two Z06 with manual transmissions. Paddle shifting does nothing for me. Never used it once in my 24SR or 26 SR, but if you like it, that’s great.

 

FWIW, Z Mode is customizable, so you can actually change the shifting to be how you like it.

My Z Mode is Track for all settings except engine/shift, which is in Sport. That way I can put it in D if I need to for slower driving. Though, I typically am using the paddles in Z mode anyway.

 

Same here.

 

We're all different BUT in my case ONLY had Standard Shift DD's for 60 years until I bought my 2020 C8! Had two C7, a Z51 then Grand Sport. I drive locally 99% of the time, mostly on two lane rural roads many with farm field both side, no homes, people and often little so drive often aggressively (for fun.) I had no need for 7th gear, which was 0.48:1 OD. Combined with a 3.42 Dif that is a final drive ratio of 1.64:1 crazy low for GM to squeeze out the best EPA mph #! Never even found 6th useful so rowed thru 5 gears. 5th gear is 0.51:1 X 3.42 Dif = 2.41:1. Good enough for me!

The C8 is also Bad with an 8th gear 0.33:1 OD. Combined with a Dif/Intermediate Gear that is similar 1.70:1. I chuckle as my 1st new car, a 1967 Chevy and my Datsun 260Z in top (4th gear) were ~3.4:1. The C8 in 6th gear, 0.51:1 OD (the maximum the C8 set to Track for Power in Z-Mode will be in is a total of 2.63:1 good enough from me. Heck my '41 Ford coupe Hot Rod I built in 1959 original came with Henry's econome 136 cid flathead V8 60 (60 for 60 hp To help get up hills it came standard with a 4.44:1 Dif. When I stuffed in an Olds engine didn't need 1st gear, spun tires starting in 2nd. Had to slip the clutch a lot when launching.

So been driving noe 6 years with Z-Mode Power set to Max, in my case Ride set to Sport, braks an steering set one step below max, essentially Sport. Can use the paddles but usually no need. To upshift at higher rpm just use more throttle. To downshift faster just apply the brakes aggressively just before a turn