The previous robotised manual that we have had was in a 911, that we sold last year, and it had the PDK gearbox. I must say that this was much smoother in auto than the one fitted in the Abarth, but being a twin-clutch one would expect this as it pre-selected the next gear based on sensors in the car and the way you were controlling the throttle. The only criticism we had was that it short-shifted to get into 7th ASAP, regardless of the circumstances, so that the fuel consumption figures looked good.
In sports mode, the Porsche engineers had written a certain jerkiness into the software so that gear-changes were not as smooth and thus you knew that you were in sports mode; rather nullified the point of the box for me I think. I don't think a single clutch robotised gearbox will be as effective in road cars as yet as the PDK-box, but no doubt it will come in time. I read an interesting article by Martin Whitmarsh recently explaining how the twin-clutch concept was unnecessary in F1 cars as it was too heavy, and with modern electronics is was possible to engage two gear momentarily
and thus maintain continuous drive to the rear wheels.
This may be a bridge too far for road cars as yet, though I am sure that with Ferrari F1 technology it must be possible. Maybe for now we have to put up with the slight delay whilst the Abarth box sorts itself out, or stick it in manual and have pretty instantaneous shifts.
