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      03-26-2021, 08:11 AM   #23
nahnahnahnah
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I had a (2010) V10 R8 with the gated shifter for a few years and drove it around a city as my daily driver as well as on long multi-day trips. I've driven (F1 paddle) Ferrrais (360, 430, 458 - all on track, not on streets), and a 355 Spyder manual on the streets. (I drove a few R8s on the track, but they were paddle shifters and back when they were that awful single clutch).

The R8 clutch is one of the easiest out there and the gated shifter is fun. The R8 is pretty lenient on you and you have to be going very fast for you to feel like you have screwed something up. Even if you screw up the balance, you have to really work hard to screw it up.

Every single one of those Ferraris felt much lighter and more nimble and in some ways felt faster - but also felt like small bumps in the road could destroy the car, and it was also far more important to keep the balance right and if you messed up you could get sideways (more relevant on a track than the street) - just the obvious thing about weight transfer with the engine back there.
The 355 clutch was brutal compared to the R8 (but very similar gated shifter).

Compared to the Ferrari the R8 felt like a tank - but in a good way. The R8 was a lot darker on the interior - felt like a cave and the only place to look was straight ahead (but I liked that).

The only Porsches I have driven were a ~2012 era Turbo and a ~2015 era GT3 (neither were manual, both PDK) - the GT3 was incredible if you wanted to go fast and would leave everything in the dust in terms of time - but felt like you were getting groceries in the car. The Turbo was useless on the track and felt heavy, but it felt like a dragster in a straight line and would rip your face off.

If I were in the position to, I would buy my R8 back in a heartbeat. I will never buy a Ferrari.

I would get the R8 every day in this scenario, but I am biased. I would even get the v8 R8 (although if you do, always drive it like you stole it - driving it like my mom somehow leads to gunk in the engine - something about temps, you can read up on the Audi forums about that).

I will say, if you like gadgets and looking at stuff in the interior - go Porsche. The R8 was sort of lacking there, but I didn't care as I never touched a thing and just listened to the engine. (and its nav system was probably the worst I've ever experienced)

The final difference is that, at least in the north east, police don't seem to notice a Porsche going fast the way they do an R8.
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      03-26-2021, 08:15 AM   #24
nahnahnahnah
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky1 View Post
And how about that gated shifter? Never drove one, what makes them so special? A good manual can really make the experience.
For me it is basically all looks - otherwise the main difference is that when you eff it up, you get a "ping" when you hit one of the metal dividers instead of a proper shift. Helps let you feel like more of an idiot.

Clearly everyone shifts perfectly and would never run into that - just me taking one for the team
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      03-30-2021, 09:35 AM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky1 View Post
And how about that gated shifter? Never drove one, what makes them so special? A good manual can really make the experience.
The two I have driven were DCT so I can't answer that one.
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      06-14-2022, 08:03 AM   #26
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asked Chris Harris this question

I was lucky enough to meet Chris Harris at a collecting cars event this past weekend (super cool dude as you would expect) and he said he would take the gated v10 R8 even though he is a porsche guy.

in the end I went with the GTS 4.0 as gated v10's are insanely priced now and the last 2 I drove felt a little old and it is getting harder and harder to find a good example.

love the GTS 4.0, the 4.0 is a great engine, but I still lust for that v10, maybe someday.
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