Ferrari Creates a Fake Manual Transmission - Core77

For those of us raised to drive stick, there is nothing like the thrill of working the clutch and shifter of a powerful car. But in the 1990s Ferrari reckoned their customers would prefer F1-style paddle shifters, and the stickshift was jettisoned.

Now, with their new 12Cilindri Manuale, they're bringing back the stickshift—or at least, the experience of one.

They've essentially made a fake manual transmission that uses both mechanical and digital trickery to deliver the dopamine. Ferrari's official magazine explains:

[The 12Cilindri Manuale] features a steel gear shift gate embellished with anodised aluminium, and a round aluminium gearknob back-lit with LEDs to show the position of each gear – a contemporary take on the classic Ferrari manual.

Both the new gear lever and clutch are activated by sensors that detect their movement – hence 'by-wire' – but feature precision mechanical feedback. The clutch pedal has authentic resistance thanks to a pre-loaded spring, cam and roller that communicate everything from the biting point to full disengagement as the driver explores the pedal's travel.

The lever, meanwhile, is linked to an advanced kinematic mechanism consisting of a rotating block of solid-machined high-strength steel, giving the driver meaningfully weighted feedback during gear shifts. The lever naturally self-centres back to the neutral position on eccentric rollers, and has even been acoustically engineered to provide the classic 'snick' of an open-gate manual.

The result is pinpoint accuracy with what the engineers in Maranello promise is an entirely intuitive mechanical feel.

In actuality, they've draped this fake six-speed manual over an actual eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. You might wonder: Why go to all of that trouble, rather than just dropping in a real manual transmission? They explain:

Drivers can simply select automatic mode to unlock the DCT gearbox's seventh and eighth gears for relaxed high-speed cruising, or simply let it take the strain whatever the speed or gear.

All of which begs the question: Is the sensation of good UX the same thing as good UX?

We increasingly live in a world of artifice and digitally-enabled simulations of the real thing. It is not a world for purists.