Originally Posted by
Rovert
I have been driving my SMG car for 4 months and I can say it's been like learning how to drive a new transmission all over again. Coming from my 6MT ZHP for a decade has helped as I understand the sounds and what the computer is doing as the SMG transmission shifts. As Dario said it gets bashed only because forums are usually about the negativity of something or needing help because something broke. You get a limited amount of "I love my ZHP" threads because they're mostly about turning something chaotic into something of order.
A lot of people who bang on SMG are people who might have only drove it around the block, not driven it enough to understand how to operate it smoothly just like any manual transmission, or people who haven't driven it and just jump on the bandwagon to feel accepted with another "cool" forum member.
I have to say that at first I missed my 3 pedal action. My left leg was looking at me with a WTF face. It dove into the abyss a few times trying to hit the clutch pedal. As Dario has pointed out accuracy about how SMG operates, I have to second what he says. Once you figure it out, you may come of liking to it. The big learning curve is figuring out when the computer is disengaging the clutch and engaging it since that's the only loss of control over 3 pedals. After 4 months I still don't have it perfect but I never shifted perfect in a manual after 4 months either.
Two months ago I had the opportunity to program my SMG computer to Euro CSL software as well as tune the ECU to react more aggressively with the CSL software. This made making a "soft" North American SMG software tolerable to totally enjoying a now grown up stick shift "computer partner" driver.
So with the SMG computer tune, all upshifts are quicker under the same setting at the NA tune, They are more accurate and clutch engagements are faster and more accurate. If you want 1st to 2nd can bang out nicely with limited delay and no chassis disruption at any RPM. The urgency of the shift depends on how much you have the throttle pressed. You don't need to release the throttle for the shift to happen. Releasing the throttle instructs the computer to shift the slowest relative to your shift speed setting. During that shift, I often hit the throttle too early as the clutch is engaging, riding the clutch for a split second so I will get used to the delay as I always leave the mode in S3. If I ease off the throttle 30% as I upshift, the shift is fast, accurate, and smooth. Going into WOT will bang out the shift fast and hard at whatever RPM you choose to shift at, 2500 or 7000, it'll do it good without delay. This tune also allows an all out "go bananas/rip apart your reinforced subframe" launch control mode maxing out at 4,000RPM vs approx 1,800RPM in NA mode. Good thing you can launch at whatever RPM you'd like but if you floor it, the RPMs will stop at 4,000 until you release holding the shift knob forward. The NA launch control seemed perfectly capable when I tried it so I don't know when a 4,000RPM launch is even optimal other than shaving 0.01 seconds off your quarter mile drag which you won't get to because you twisted your driveshaft off. LOL.
With the ECU tuned for the CSL SMG software, downshifts are rev-matched near perfectly throughout the rev-band, whether you're downshifting from 3,000RPM to 5,000RPM, gear skipping from 2,000RPM to 6,500RPM, or just lazy shifts from 1,500RPM to 2,500RPM. Super fast/aggressive rev-match blips happen when you're above the 3,000RPM range. That's equivalent to you WOT to blip. The North American program would just release/ride the clutch smoothly without blipping when off throttle. You have to be on throttle for it to blip which was then, only good for acceleration. The CSL ECU tune allows for rev-matched clutch engagements no matter what you're doing with the throttle just as you can do in a manual.
After driving manual for 10 years, I still miss it. Having this tune on SMG software makes me not need to swap the transmission. But when it does cause a $500 or more bill, I will put that towards swapping to a 6MT as there is no replacement to feeling the car shift in such non-timed casual environments as public roads. Racing on a track I could totally appreciate SMG since one bad shift could unbalance a car already at it's traction limit sending you into a very uncontrollable situation.
If you want to know more about M Track mode......let that be another novel. LOL.
