Simulated gearshifts for performance EVs are a good thing. Anyone who disagrees has either never driven a car with the tech or simply doesn’t enjoy driving. It’s the main reason why the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is my favorite electric car right now. It might not be real, but it feels real. And from behind the wheel, that’s all that matters. Porsche, a longtime opponent of using fake gearshifts in its EVs, is finally coming around to the idea.
As a refresher, Porsche’s stance on fake gearshifts has, for the past two years, been credited to a 2024 interview given by Lars Kern, one of the company’s most senior development drivers, to Australian site drive.com.au. In that interview, Kern crushed my dreams of ever driving a 911-shaped EV with simulated PDK gearshifts.
Here’s what he said:
The electric engine is better than an ICE [internal combustion engine], so we figured there’s no reason to simulate what has been in the past.
We looked at it, but … I don’t see the point of using it to make it feel like a combustion engine because it’s not, so we don’t.
Pretty cut and dry, right? Porsche’s been mum on the idea since, so I always assumed we’d never see paddle shifters in a Stuttgart-developed electric car. But as it turns out, the company’s been hard at work developing its own “virtual gear shift” system. It’s even gone as far as building a working Cayenne EV prototype with the tech.
Source: Porsche
Sascha Niesen, the fleet director for Porsche’s prototypes, confirmed the existence of such a vehicle to The Drive, telling the publication it was developed by the same engineers responsible for the company’s dual-clutch and torque converter automatic transmissions.
I drove a concept vehicle in March. I wanted to hate it because it’s artificial and it’s fake and everything. I was afraid that the people that are doing it are just software geeks who have no idea how a transmission works and try to emulate it. [T]he [engineers] know what they’re doing. They were able to make it feel like a proper torque converter gearbox. I could not tell the difference.
Instead of using noises inspired by internal combustion engines, as with the Hyundai, Porsche’s system uses real, pre-recorded V8 engine sounds from the ICE-powered Cayenne. So in practice, driving a Cayenne EV with the tech should mirror the experience you’d have in, say, a Cayenne GTS or a Cayenne Turbo, right down to the silly exhaust farts with each downshift.
Source: Porsche
Whether the system will make it to production is another story. Niesen admitted to The Drive that it’s not as simple as delivering an over-the-air software update. The Cayenne EV was never designed to have paddle shifters, so there’s no hardware to pair to the tech. But the demand exists, at least from some customers.
That’s key. You’ve got to give the customer the option to be more engaged, but in an EV, it cannot be mandatory. From an engineering perspective, it doesn’t make any sense to introduce a gear shift. But then again, you have continuously variable transmissions that did introduce gear shifts because it felt more natural. You didn’t need it.
Conceptually, Porsche is finally on the right path. When these fake gearshifts arrive on the long-awaited 718 EV, I can finally rest.
[Writer’s note: As corny as fake gearshifts sound, they definitely have a place in electric performance cars, especially ones expected to see some track time. You’ll hear people call a bend a “second-gear corner” or a “third-gear corner” and having that reference point helps with orientation at a trackday. Also, everything’s kinda digital in most new cars anyway. Piped-in audio, strategically programmed drift modes, even clutch delay valves and anti-stall drive-by-wire mapping on new manual cars. As long as the sensation feels real, what’s the difference between an isolated and gadget-laden automatic ICE car and an EV that simulates its shifts? For now, I’m just glad to see that Porsche seems to have found the light. Remember the revolt when the 991.1 GT3 went PDK-only? –TH]
Top photo: Porsche
Pfft, it is only cool if it acts like a REAL car.
So, via the touch screen, you should:
“Anyone who disagrees has either never driven a car with the tech or simply doesn’t enjoy driving.”
Ok, gatekeeper…it’s still fake bullshit.
From Seinfeld: “Fake. Fake. Fake.”
“what’s the difference between an isolated and gadget-laden automatic ICE car and an EV that simulates its shifts?”
It’s so fucking obvious I’m shocked you wrote this. It’s fake bullshit. On a real car (ICE), it’s all mechanical…Duh!
I’m surprised/disappointed with this article, and never thought I’d say that
I also disagree, as I do not know how a simulated clutch pedal would work. Maybe they could integrate those simulated clutches and shifters that the old driver’s ed simulators had back in the ’80s.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cf/7e/be/cf7ebecce8ce8dac8a3be44f99c390b9.jpg
Ha! I actually used to use those, they had them at my high school! Also, had the car w/ brake pedal on passenger side too…and the scary/bloody crash videos, ha ha
I used them as well. IIRC, I was the first one in the class who figured out how to switch the simulator over to manual mode and activate the clutch pedal and shifter. I did not do very well on the manual version, though, as I had not driven any car yet, automatic or manual, at the time. But I had fun trying. I had to wait until I was around 20 years old before I bought my first manual transmission vehicles.
It should be obvious, but sometimes it needs to be said anyway; the whole point of sports cars is that they are raw and crude, they have rough edges and enough difficulty in using them that they reward skill. Sometimes they leak stuff from the outside and other times they leak stuff from the inside sometimes they do both.
Of course, those are also the qualities that tend to be dangerous, and cars that are easy to break or that get people killed tend to attract lawsuits.
Also, most people don’t want sports cars. They want GT cars that let them look good when they do something stupid, not cars that do exactly what physics would lead a person with observational skills and time on their hands to expect.
But
“ They were able to make it feel like a proper torque converter gearbox.”
Yuck, I want straight cut gears in a dog box.
You know what would be cheap and easy to implement? And fun? A couple levers to enable manual torque vectoring, like the old double fly off handbrake setups.
There are all sorts of things you could do to make EVs more engaging. Putting a knob on the dashboard to adjust the front and rear roll stiffness and brake bias would be fun but probably lawyers would not be amused.
Watch THX-1138, I’m not sure what the Lola T70 police car was supposed to to be powered by, but it acts a lot like what an EV sports car if thermal management and other performance trade offs were left up to the driver.
Even more food for thought – the PPIHC. You don’t see the top-performing EVs using simulated shifts and piped-in engine noise. You see them optimizing handling so the driver knows how much grip they have and how hard they can push, and the power is always there to launch them out of a corner. No dead spots, no simulated gear changes robbing acceleration.
As a fan of women who may come with fake boobs, fake hair color, fake eyelashes, fake nails, even fake height (I love high heels), I can’t claim that “authentic” is high on my list for me to like something. So for me its about actual implementation. Eyelashes and nails can easily get too long, boobs can get too big. Proper execution is key.
All that is to say, I’m in no way bothered by fake shifting, especially if it can be turned off for all those haters hating away. But if Porsche pulls it off and it feels more fun? Good on them and I might like it more than I thought.
I was wondering who they were dressing for. My impression has been that mostly women do all that to impress other women.
Women’s footwear is too vast and deep a subject for here.
I see a lot of people venting rage about these “fake” noises, how frivolous they are, and how they provide no mechanical advantage. I think these takes are a little overcooked.
I challenge you to think about what is authentic in a car. What gives it soul isn’t it’s smooth functioning and predictability, that’s just the baseline. It seems counterproductive to hate on modern cars for a lack of engagement and then rule out anything that seems like artifice.
Is there an authentic car? A real car with just what you need and nothing more? Do you actually want that? If this was true, then we would all be driving corollas of different sizes. My steering wheel jiggles when I’m drifting out of my lane, is that fake? No, that a part of my car’s features, which makes up its character. We want feedback from a car, we want character, and we want something reliable.
Also, why hate on something that can be turned off?
It seems like a lot of getting upset to be upset.
Why not just give it real shifts, like the Brammo Empulse did? Throw in a (almost pointless) transmission in there!
As an Empulse owner, the transmission is not pointless. If you want to get decent performance, you need to work the gears.
Fake gear shifts are truly stupid. They are the equivalent of adding a massive exhaust tip to make your car look faster. They are pointless and only appeal to people who prefer the superficial aspects of a thing over its actual qualities.
Generally I agree with you, but I think Thomas just made the best case I’ve ever heard for them (re: track days) in the Editor’s note…
That is such a stretch it bends credulity past the point of breaking.
Attempting to claim that something “clutch delay valves and anti-stall drive-by-wire mapping on new manual cars” is the same as piped-in audio is an especially clueless statement. Fake gears aren’t a change to how you are interacting with an actual system needed to drive the car. Fake gear shifts are 100% aesthetic and the equivalent of a Pep-Boys spoiler or fake bead-lock rims.
Anyone who asks, “As long as the sensation feels real, what’s the difference between an isolated and gadget-laden automatic ICE car and an EV that simulates its shifts?” Wouldn’t understand the difference between driving a Caterham and a PS5. It is the attitude that has caused companies to stop making engaging cars and replace them with isolated junk. BMW gave up on driving feel and replaced it with piped-in sounds, digital assists, and a bucket full of driving modes to simulate the things that they used to actually have in reality.
I get it when BMW and others need to sell cars to consumers who are typically more interested in buying a BMW or Porsche as a fashion statement, but it’s sad when somebody who presents themselves as interested in driving falls into the same trap.
Yeah, I still think it’s an inherently silly concept (and on your point, a bummer and a tech-bro-adjacent outlook on driving that I don’t share) but I’d literally never heard anything that demonstrated even a small real-world value to sim shifts.
I can “feel” where my manual car is at without really needing to check tach/speedo, so if this offers an electric equivalent to that kind of feedback… it’s 1 mark on the Pro column, against the numerous/giant marks in the Con column.
The issue is that the “feel” it produces doesn’t really provide anything, since there is no mechanism that the driver can manipulate for it to matter. The benefits of controlling shifts on a BEV don’t exist. The “value” is as fake as the shifts, and if anything, it makes things worse because it is an unnecessary diversion.
Anyone interested in making BEVs good performance cars would work on finding ways to engage the driver with the realities of the mechanisms and dynamics involved. Embrace and celebrate the engineering realities rather than worrying about fake nostalgic B.S.
You are 100% on it here. Don’t ape an ICE car, make the BEV responsive, communicative, and fun to drive. Cut the weight to make the steering need less assist, calibrate the accelerator and braking for good feedback.
Exactly!
I have driven an EV with simulated shifts, and I didn’t like it. I enjoyed driving it more when it was acting like an EV. Seriously, just calibrate the accelerator, brakes and steering well, and it’s good.
I hate this fake-ass “engagement” stuff. Fake engine noises, boo. Fake shifts in CVTs and EVs, boo. Just make the car responsive, predictable, and controllable.
This. An EV is still a car, and a car is much more than its drivetrain. Give me communicative steering, responsive brakes and a balanced, predictable chassis and I’ll take your EV over a competing ICE car with rev hang, understeer-prone suspension and dead steering any day.
For real. If you have good steering and suspension feedback, you know how far you can push, and it DOESN’T MATTER if it’s a 2nd gear or 3rd gear corner. If the car is set up well, so it’s not a numb void to drive, you know how far you can push it.
On a twisty road, I would legitimately rather have an E39 with a BEV conversion kit over a current M2, even with a manual.
Dumb! Why not give it pew pew laser sounds and a fart button? Maybe a unicorn whinny? John Phillips Sousa marches could play, and the driver can pretend they’re in a parade! EVs have their own characteristics. Emphasize those, and let them excel where they excel.
Also, what is the point of emulating a TORQUE CONVERTER AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION???? Since when was that anyone’s idea of performance?
Let’s stop using “feel real” when describing these modes meant to emulate an ICE engine and transmission. Just say they are meant to replicate what is an older technology because that is what we are used to and conditioned to respond to when driving. “Feels like and ICE car”, is an honest and ok way to say it.
One day EV’s will have been around long enough that a generation of drivers will have grown up driving them and won’t want their EV to “feel real”.
The insanely exorbitant amount of money people will pour into driving simulators proves that having “fake” feedback is still a rewarding thing.
Everyone here is big mad over nothing. If you think the gimmick is BS, leave it in regular EV mode and drive the damn car in your smug “pure experience’ superiority.
It wasn’t until I was on chemo and stopped drinking that I finally understood the value of non-alcoholic beer. It tricks your monkey brain that’s been conditioned to see this as a relaxation/release mechanism.
We’ve been conditioned to drive based on gears and RPM, it’s why CVTs were, and continue to be, hated.
Try the non-alcoholic EV gear shifts, let go of your idea of “real”, and you may find yourself enjoying the experience a lot more than you expected.
This is such a bad take. EVs are boring to drive from a sensory perspective (other than the insane acceleration). Think of some other, new way to make them engaging.
What’s next, some off-balance shaft to simulate a lumpy cam?
Stop giving them ideas! 😛
Will it come with a faux clutch pedal and shifter to engage the simulation?
The next EV ‘invention’:
Let’s have steer/brake by wire so the car can run a perfect lap every time, all while you use the fake wheel and pedals. It’ll be perfect! Now you’ll pass everyone on track while getting the sensation of being a real race car driver! All you have to do is put the car in race track mode and the autonomous driving system does the rest!
Fake is fake. Manufactured novelty doesn’t stay novel long, but it’s enough to woo automotive jounalists.
Farah put it the best. It doesn’t make the car faster, it makes the driver faster by giving them reference points based off of chosen “gear” and the associated RPM sound.
Being able to both visually and audibly track your approach at given parts of the track allows you to fine tune your attack and increase repeatability.
While Porsche are at it, why not make it possible to simulate a 60/40 weight distribution, so you can get a tendency for sudden oversteer as well?
Simulated swing axle mid corner bump steer! With simulated rollovers!
Yee-haw!
Fake shifts for the era of simulated everything. If this is the future, well, it sucks.
It makes sense as a replacement for an ICE performance car. It’s simulating that experience in a cleaner, more efficient way with some new tricks. Good for old brands like Porsche to do (especially since Porsche may want to avoid hybrids).
It shouldn’t be on an “electric-native” design. Electric cars that aren’t imitating a legacy should focus on making the most of their real attributes.