Manual transmissions, wooooo, amirite? Yes, we all love to “row our own,” as they say, feel one with the machine, all that fun stuff. But manuals have become increasingly rare in the name of pure performance and declining offerings– just this morning, Thomas reported the Mazda 3 is the last stick-equipped economy car – and in the case of electric vehicles, there isn’t a need for changeable ratios at all, whether selected by a hand-stirred stick, a microprocessor firing solenoids, or the ol’ slush system.
But some people, a lot of you reading this now, I imagine, would like a manual shifter. Would you settle for a simulated manual? Not merely a “stick shift” form factor for selecting gears in an automatic transmission, but a stick that truly feels as if it’s tugging linkages and sliding synchros and all that?
Porsche has applied for a patent for just such a system, which you can view here. As the application states (per the patent site’s own German-to-English translation feature),
[F]ully automatic control of motor vehicles is not desired by every driver, because it makes individual intervention by the driver more difficult or avoids it, which is still preferred by some drivers.
Accordingly, there is a desire for the remanualization of motor vehicles in order to be able to perform certain functionalities manually again, such as the manual operation of the automatic transmission as a manual gearbox and/or the sequential shifting of the automatic transmission, whereby the motor vehicle may also only have an electric motor as a drive motor, whereby the shifting of the manual transmission or an automatic transmission is simulated.
…
An electronically controlled clutch pedal may also be provided to emulate the clutch actuation in an emulated manual transmission.
[Editor’s Note: The word “remanualization” kind of gave me some hives when I read it. They really have a knack for taking something potentially fun and making it all corporate-clinical. Ew. – JT]
So, we’re talking about a shifter that can be moved to choose gears like a conventional gearbox, or a sequential setup, or a full auto. Nothing too groundbreaking there – or patentable, I would think, though a phony clutch is interesting, if silly. But that’s not the meat of the idea Porsche wants to patent:
[I]t is also desirable if the hand-operated actuator is suitable for control in order to give the operator or driver of the motor vehicle a realistic experience of shifting a manual transmission or an automatic transmission.
This also includes the fact that the operating lever of the hand-operated actuator experiences realistically increasing resistance forces towards its end positions, which the driver must overcome when moving the operating lever.The task is to create a hand-operated actuator equipped with an actuating lever and realistically operable to generate a realistic shifting experience.
“Realistically increasing resistance forces towards its end positions, which the driver must overcome when moving the operating lever,” that’s force-feedback meant to make it feel like the shifter is actually doing something mechanical and not just bumping into switches. Maybe there could even be a knob you twist incrementally to go from full snick-snick to maximum notchy (who am I kidding, it would be a screen slider). At any rate, the words do a much better job than the patent art, which is giving “science fair” more than “high technology.” But that’s fine. The drawing isn’t for marketing, it’s for patenting.
As the application explains, springs return the stick to a fixed resting position, with a powered actuator (labeled 10 in the image above) providing the resistance to stick movement in appropriate amounts for accurate simulation. The actuator could be magnetorheological, electromagnetic, or motorized. The application goes on to explain that capacitors could power the system, “[allowing] a defined amount of current to be stored and retrieved briefly, in order to allow higher forces from the actuator on the operating lever.” Porsche seems to really want that lever to have some oomph, further explaining, “It is also advantageous if the current control circuit includes at least one boost converter … so that a higher electrical energy can be stored and quickly released again to allow for short periods of higher forces from the actuator on the actuating lever.”
There’s more. The patent application envisions a touch- and perhaps even camera-based sensor system to detect when the driver’s hand reaches for the shift knob, signaling an impending shift. If a phony clutch pedal is provided, it too could be sensor-equipped. Left foot twitching? Get ready to fire off those capacitors.
It’s all fascinating, and I can’t help but think of the guys who put thousands of dollars into e-racing rigs. In the future, the ultimate driving experience may be a car simulator that’s actually a car.
What a weird time to be a car person.
Top graphic image: Porsche
No.
There are three reasons to want a manual:
1: For performance reasons, you want to be able to select your own gears. If the system is already some sort of DCT whatever, flappy paddles or a forward-back sequential style lever are both objectively better for this purpose.
2: You enjoy mechanical systems for their own sake. In that case any simulation/imitation is going to be just that. A mechanical watch fan doesn’t buy mechanical watches because they like reading dials; they buy them because they like cool mechanical stuff. An electric watch with a ticking second hand doesn’t scratch the itch.
3: You like mechanical systems because you like the reliability/ease of self-repair (or at least the perception thereof). This system isn’t that.
Flappy paddles that move with the steering wheel are terrible.
Signed: everyone who lives in a country with roundabouts.
I’ve thought that the aftermarket should come up with something like this for EVs, with a bolt on clutch pedal and shifter. And take it a step further where you can select different ICE vehicles, and it will also simulate the powerband and pipe in realistic engine sounds through the speakers. One day you can pick a turbo 4-cylinder. Next day a Ferrari V12.
Would it be dumb? Yeah. Would it be fun? Hell yeah!
If this is for an ICE car ala that new Ferrari, I can maybe get behind the idea. It seems to be getting good reviews though I remain skeptical until such unlikely time as I can drive one myself and prove that it enhances my involvement. If this is to fake shifting in an EV count me out and I don’t need it to trickle down.
In the camera world a few different companies have tried something similar with digital cameras that look and have knobs like old film cameras and yet within a couple weeks of getting one I found myself increasingly just using it like a modern DSLR with dials. I’m a manual car diehard and love old film cameras but you can’t fake functionality and purpose and imo these faux controls wind up being gimmicks because of that. It’s often said that the best design is where form follows function and these fake analog controls kind of feel like the inverse of that.
If they have the space to fit this, then I’d rather them make the damn center console a reasonable size instead. Just make the automatics they have actually f’n shift when you tell them to instead of ignoring the request or taking forever to comply (with the exception of allowing the engine to overrev) and not shifting in manual mode without command. That said, if it’s indistinguishable from real, it’s better than nothing, but I have serious doubts when the other stuff that’s been made electronic sucks for feedback.
Didn’t Ferrari just do something similar with the 12 Cilindri Manuale? It’s a DCT that can be operated like a traditional manual when the driver wants it. On paper it seems dystopian but the journalists that got to drive them absolutely fawned over the experience. I expected everyone to be like “woof this is cringe” and yet the C&D article I read was absolutely glowing and basically hailed it as revolutionary.
I don’t know how I feel about any of it. As you all know I’m not the insufferable manual diehard that a lot of people are. I can drive stick, and I enjoy it when I do, but I’ve never found it to be the transformative, life altering experience that the manual cultists claim it can be…and frankly a lot of that is due to how awful the area I live in is for driving.
With that in mind…I do understand the appeal of having the option there when you want it. While I sit in traffic roughly 90% of the time I’m driving I do go out for drives on nice roads, attend an occasional track day, etc…and when I do so I’m usually using the paddles in my car or the shift lever because it’s objectively fun to bounce off redline or nail an aggressive downshift.
So I, regrettably, find this/the Manuale concept to be really intriguing if it eventually trickles down to attainable cars. It sounds silly on paper, but 10-15 years ago DCTs were supercar transmissions and now they’re available in Hyundai/Kia products….
I think this will be a great system to keep the manual driving experience going in a world where they are functionally inferior to automatics in every measurable way. I need to experience it myself before I make a judgement on if this will be the new norm. With steer, throttle, brake by wire nowadays, I don’t see how this is any different than those technologies that are already in every enthusiasts favourite cars – Porsche, BMW, Mustangs, etc. Just a fun option to let you feel all those same feelings and connection to the machine of driving a real manual car. This will start trickling down to regular cars in the next 5-10 years to things like the M3.
At the same time, I feel this is probably suffering from the typical glazing of Ferrari by journos who want to stay on the good side of the boys back at Maranello. Either way, I think this will be the future for enthusiasts looking for the feel of a traditional manual – you won’t notice the difference as a driver.
CnD i think did a write up and they mentioned it was pretty good. It would not prevent you from making a fool of yourself, but it would prevent you from causing any damage to the car. It’s a compelling option it was an 80/20 proposition and I could only have 1 car.
Fun explanation of the “manual” transmission from Cammisa and Hagerty:
Ferrari’s 12Cilindri Manuale Reinvented the Transmission: Here’s Why It Matters. Jason Cammisa ICONS
Other journalists just drove the Ferarri and talked about it, Cammisa decided to do a deep dive on the history of transmissions through the ages.
There’s no authenticity to this. I don’t see the point.
Authenticity in an EV is the instantaneous, massive, and nearly silent delivery of power. Just enjoy that for what it is.
I love a manual transmission, ut if it’s just a front to provide vague sensations of engaging a clutch and moving gear ratios and modulating engine speeds in a vehicle with none of those things, I’d feel like a complete fucking poseur dork.
Maybe Roku can come up with a set of fake rabbit ear antennas for my smart TV that i have to screw with in order to get a clear picture.
This is the dumbest fucking thing I have ever seen, at least in the automotive world.
If you’re going through all the trouble to mimic a manual shifter why not go all the way and make it the Holy Grail of shifters; the chromed gated shifter?
I wonder how this is different from the one Ferrari already has
I just recently learned about “virtual clutches controlled by a pedal” in regard to ZF8HP swaps. It reminded me of when I first learned about quantum computing and I felt like my brain fell out of my head. Maybe it reminds me of the movie Inception and a dream within a dream within a dream…… It is cool stuff but makes me wonder if we are needlessly complicating things. After learning about the virtual clutches, I then went down a weird rabbit hole trying to figure out if you could push start a vehicle with an automatic transmission and a virtual clutch. Short answer, no. Man I am weird.
I work for a company making quantum computers. It is both simpler and more complicated than it seems. Figures that would be the answer, right?
Your push start theory is thwarted by the torque converter. It’s not really a 2 way thing.
Torque converters are absolutely a 2 way thing. W/o that you wouldn’t have engine braking on an automatic.
The reason you can’t push start current automatics is that the pump is driven by the engine through the torque converter input. Without the pressurized fluid the clutches/brakes can’t be applied to connect the trans output to the torque converter output.
Back in the day many automatics also had a rear pump, driven off of the output and yes you could push start those vehicles. (A rear pump would also be beneficial for flat towing).
Yes, this is what I found in the rabbit hole. There used to exist automatic transmissions that could be push started (at least theoretically). They had rear pumps and were available in some Chrysler and Mercedes products in the 60s and 70s. You supposedly had to get them up to 25ish mph to get them started.
GM’s Hydramatic and early versions of the Powerglide could be push started too. The Warner Gear/Borg-Warner units sold under various names in Ford, Studebaker and IH vehicles could also be push started.
Somewhere I have an old Motors auto repair manual and it had a chart with what automatics could be push started and the specified procedure and minimum speed for each. If I remember right it ranged from 15-25mph for the speed at which it should start. Blew my mind since by the time I was old enough to know about push starting a manual trans vehicle the then current autos had dropped that rear pump and the common wisdom was already you can’t push start an automatic.
You said it better than me, thanks. Also, I had no idea they used to make auto’s like that. That’s awesome!
I’m looking forward to the day when I can finally afford a car that doesn’t have to be push started.
I love the novelty of being able to push start a vehicle. I’ve had a couple of Jeeps that haven’t left me stranded when their starters went bad because they were manual. I also had a Suzuki SX4 that had a loose wire going to the starter that would make it intermittent until I noticed the loose wire. It was small enough and geared well enough that I could push it by myself to get it started.
I’m trying to be open-minded about this particular subject. I am assuming the reason Porsche (and others I guess) are pursuing this is due to the global standards that prevent manual-equipped cars from achieving emissions and fuel economy standards and they would prefer to not develop and pay the fees for crash testing and compliance for just a few markets like ours that still want a manual.
If I’m trying to be positive about this I could think of this as the next extreme level of drive by wire, rev matching and other electronic helpers that many manual-equipped cars already have. If the transmission in these things is actually using my inputs to deliver commands to the auto transmission to make a real change in engine behavior or gear selection then if I squint really really hard maybe I can at least try this out.
Are they talking about putting this in an EV though? That would be too far. How much does this system weigh compared to a manual, or even regular PDK?
I find it hard seeing this from Porsche. They have always been about the drive and providing a real, visceral driving experience. Even their more recent “commuter cars” are more performance oriented than most others. And they build expensive machines with high profit margins and their buyers have already shown they are willing to pay more, much more in many cases, for a real manual transmission. So just add the cost in and charge for it but please just develop a real transmission for those that want it.
It’s just a patent and those don’t always get developed. And part of me wants to try this thing out for the novelty to see how close they could get. Could it make a car more fun than just an automatic? Could be but I don’t see myself paying for it while I am one of those that will pay more for a regular manual transmission in my car that would cost much less than this thing to develop and produce.
I still don’t understand why companies like Porsche are not trying to find the way to make an EV with a manual. Sure its not going to be as efficient or as straight line fast as an EV without a transmission at all, but it will be fun and engaging. It should be possible with software control of an EV motor through a clutch like a normal manual. You might not need 1000hp EV motor if you could use gears.
My thoughts exactly. A manual EV with a clutch is something that fascinates me. No need for a huge motor, don’t care about the drive line losses. This is a much better sauce.
https://discoverlexus.com/stories/lexus-ae86-bev-concept
also this Larry Chen video youtube.com/watch?v=DE2oDKguy3Q&vl=en actually made me excited about the idea of EV sports cars though I wonder if this will ever see the light of day in a production car
Tbh that AE86 is what the Prelude should have been
Wow yeh that would’ve been pretty awesome, certainly imo cooler than the Japanese Thunderbird that we got.
Japanese Thunderbird made me spit out my coffee thanks.
Manual EVs have been a thing, mainly in the aftermarket converted electric cars that were around in the 80s and 90s, a lot of those companies just left the stock transmission alone in the econoboxes they used as base cars
Ehhh… hope you like burning through clutches like crazy. Manual transmissions on ICE vehicles work because the motor torque during clutch engagement at low RPM is generally low. Electric motors are the opposite- you get peak torque from stall.
While you could limit the torque during clutch engagement, this would probably feedback to the driver as an intentional limiting of the motor, which would kill the whole experience.
This is all so deeply, deeply strange to me. It’s like having to carefully cue up a tone arm and drop a fake needle in order to press play on your CD player.
Great analogy! Maybe add an amplifyer that creates intermittent crackles and hisses as well as the occasional jump for the ultimate experience.
I think you are describing some modern DJ consoles.
Which are like Mercedes Benz dashboards, thus completing the circle.
Better idea for an article:
Why Porsche hopes to make fake shifting feel real
I’ve seen a lot of articles about fake shifting, but so far, all have addressed the how and ignored the why. I’m skeptical any of us want this.
I thought it was silly when manufacturers started putting buttons on your automatic shifter to allow for manual control (although I know some people genuinely like that in certain situations). Going further and faking a clutch and shift lever is just plain stupid.
I’m tired of new technology trying to simulate everything. If people actually want three pedals, why not just give them three real pedals? Selling a car with a proper manual actually seems like it would be less effort. If you want fake shifting, buy a damn Xbox.
I agree, and to me, a large appeal of EVs/hybrids is the smoothness of operation. If I want to drive a manual, I’ll drive my weekend car. If I’m buying an EV/hybrid, it’s because I need something efficient and comfortable to use every day.
It’s a tacit admission that EVs are fucking boring to drive. They are great cars, sure, but boring.
I commute in my Tesla Model 3. Yeah, it’s fast as fuck, but the speed is so without drama or ceremony that it just got boring. Yup a 430 hp car is boring.
I don’t mind boring in my daily car. If it’s boring but otherwise efficient, nice to drive and practical, that’s kind of the ideal. My Civic hybrid doesn’t light my meager hair on fire or anything, but it’s got a fantastic interior and I can get low 50’s mpg without even trying.
For decades, manufacturers and drivers would have KILLED for an engine that delivers uninterrupted full torque from the start. This stupid fad will die out soon when people realize that it decreases performance.
Those who willingly accept being conned are as corrupt as those who con them.
To again credit Torch for teaching me the word, this skeuomorphic stuff seems fairly silly. Why not embrace the electric nature and design some sort of novel power plant with different circuits that deliver different power modes that the driver moves between or something? Perhaps the clutch pedal would be a connect-disconnect switch, I dunno. But make it real/functional, whatever it is.
This is an awful lot of effort just to keep people from what they want while trying to make them believe it’s present.
I can see a simulated manual being a fun novelty to try, but can’t imagine it would ever find its way into the kind of EV I might actually buy.
This is sorta’ dumb. Its a feature you’d more likely associate with “lesser” cars like my wife’s Subaru, which also has a fake manual mode feature that we never use. We’re talking about Porsche-right? Just make it the real deal and call it a day. If anything its silly things like this that ruin their brand.
Sounds like a lot of money for no practical benefit. An actual manual is part of a car’s motive system; a simulated manual is a toy. The last thing needed on roads is more people playing with their cars. Save that for a track.
You nailed it. Part of what makes a real manual enjoyable (to me anyway) is that there are real, often bad consequences to doing it wrong.
A breakable expensive toy.
So…a Porsche! Lol.
EXACLTY!
Looks like Porsche reinvented the Automatic Stick Shift.
If I want simulation I’ll buy a simulator.
If I want to drive I’ll buy an OG 911 and enjoy the experience minus fake crap, screens and “remanualization.”
Somehow, I suspect this will cost more than a simple clutch pedal and shift lever connected to a manual transmission.
This is the dumbest idea I’ve seen this month, and I’ve seen some dumb ones. This is adding a fidget toy to the car for drivers stuck in the past and believing that the old way was invariably better. This is the car equivalent of MAGA.
This is just another crap example of how broken our world is. Why all the trouble to fake something with a simulation. It seems like more trouble than just using a real manual. I am sure there are performance and efficiency reasons to not have a real manual. It just sucks. We live in an overcomplicated simulation of the real world. I cannot think of any SFW clean analogies for this but more than a few NSFW examples of how bad these kind of things are runining our lives and planet.
For some reason this makes me sad.
This seems like putting a fake plastic steering wheel in a Cybercab for the passenger to play with
With a fake gas pedal and simulated sounds that emulate the engine.
Oh no, you can make your own engine noises. Vroom vroom, I’m driving a car like a big boy
Complete with a sex doll in the “driver’s” seat.