Ferrari should change its F1 paddle location...

Nope. No need to be shifting with the steering wheel cranked to the side. You're asking for trouble on that one...

-R

 

Personally, I prefer steering wheel mounted. To me, my Dinan 3 is much easier to shift than the F1's I've driven. That being said, those experiences have only been for a few laps, but I like being able to double shift if need be coming through a corner, particularly if you come up blind on slower cars.

 

See on the street it makes sense to have them turn with the wheel but on the track or in racing you wouldnt want to shift in the middle of a turn anyway so having them stationary is no big deal. I have heard of people having a problem with this and they do make aftermarket extended carbon fiber paddles. Those same paddles are used on the 360GT.

 

They are perfect where they are. If you have to shift in the middle of a turn you aren't doing something right. The only place I could foresee possibly being able to shift in the middle of a turn is if you are going around a large, increasing diameter turn. In this case, you have the time to move your hand to the paddle anyway, so no need to move the paddles.

 

Steering Wheel Mounted like the FX..

 

They seem fine where they are. Shifting should be limited to straight line travel. The paddle shift race car has about a 3/4 turn from lock to lock. The road car's steering has multiple revolutions from lock to lock. If paddles were on the wheel it could create a risk of accidental shifts at a corner's apex courtesy of the driver's knees.

 

Maybe they should keep the present setting and make it so that it also has buttons like Porsche, or even a +/- shift stick on the center console as an option.
And I think it would be great to see the the option when if you push the right paddle the gear would change Down. I think the FX has this option.

With everything of the above I think it would silence all the Ferrari F1 system critics and turn some purists on to the F1 side as well.

 

This is another reason to put Alfa/Lancia/Maser into rallye --(more racing experience makes better street cars). The WRC cars have shift rings behind the wheel ... pull for up-shift, push for down-shift. The rings are stationary, but cover 360 degrees -- you can hit them at any wheel angle.

Ferrari's focusing entirely on F1 is giving them a bit of tunnel vision. (More cross-over technology, Igor.)

Gotta love those hand-brake turns, too. (Yippie Kai-Yay)

 

BMW has the wheel mounted paddles and they don't work as effectively as the column mounted ones.

 

I think they are in the correct position,just needs getting used to by driving it a lot.

 

I use to think that you should always shift in a straight line. For downshifts, I still believe this is true. However, as I have improved my skills at the track I am learning to up shift in turns.

Best example is the uphill left hand turn at MotorSport Ranch immediately after Rattlesnake. My 911 runs out of gear (2nd) mid turn and I am left with either holding my revs until I am straight or shifting mid-turn into 3rd and continuing to accelerate. As a beginner, I held my rpms. As I have improved I am now able to shift mid-turn without upsetting the car, it remains perfectly balanced.

 

Typically in a situation like that you would normally short shift to the next gear. Some cars you have to do that as well at Sears Point.

 

The track runs counter clockwise. The squared area is the last straight before a series of twisting turns. The circled area is the next straight. I am able to shift from 2nd into third about where the line is drawn across the track. Doing so allows me to stay full throttle as I ascend up the hill towards track out. This wasn't something I discovered on my own, one of my PCA instructors taught me to do this. Most 911s of similar vintage will run out of gear here and the fast drivers make the shift mid-turn. If you are smooth, this is easily the fastest way around. If you are not smooth, you'll end up in the weeds.

Shortshifting would require me to hold 3rd gear from the square until the circle, as every area in between is part of a turn. This is not a very fast option for a car with 205 rwhp and 189 pounds of torque.
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Ferrari should change its F1 paddle location... ...........
They should put them in the trash-can where they belong!

 

I haven't felt any inconvenience w/ F1 paddle location. When I was doing AX, I liked the fact that I could reach the paddle w/ my baby finger during the turn to accelerate. I also like the shape of paddle, too, flat, wide, & big compared w/ other paddles I tried.

I never tried steering mount before, so I may like that better, too.

If I frequent to tracks, it may change, too.

 

This is my first F1 transmission and I like them except when I am turning to the opposite direction of the paddle. IE: turning to the right and want to upshift or turning to the left and want to downshift. I rotate the steering wheel less than 40 degrees and can no longer reach the paddles without taking my hands off the wheel. This is a *****. I think they need to extend to a lower position below center of the wheel.

And for those who say shifting is for travelling straight...what are you talking about? Trail braking, then quick acceleration out of a turn demands shifting while the wheel is turned. And pulling out of a 3rd gear sweeper and not upshifting until you are going straight? Uhmm...NOT

 

the reason I'm going w/ 6-speed over F1... the paddles don't fly w/ the wheel. Amen for the thread Patrick.

 

They should put both paddles on side of the wheel, that way you can use your other hand to hold a beer.

 

they should put the paddles in the rubbish bin ant fit a gear stick and a clutch F1 is for girls

 

Exact opposite! On a real track, you should not be re-gripping your hands in different positions... thus, in racecars its best if the paddles move with the wheel... that way, they are always at your fingertips.

In contrast, on the street (or in autocross), you must re-grip the wheel (either shuffling or hand-over-hand). If you end up needing to shift mid-turn when the wheel is upside down and your hands are at 3-9, its EXTREMELY confusing to figure out how to shift up vs. down.

Porsche's Tiptronic button pushers have the same problem... up for up becomes down for up mid-turn sometimes. I detest the Porsche Tiptronic... for soooo many reasons.

They COULD change the paddles to push for up and pull for down... both paddles doing the same... then you'd only have to deal with finding the paddles. Sometimes your hands will be at the sides of the wheel while the shifters are at top and bottom... you'd have to look to see where the darn thing is.

In contrast, with the Ferrari/Maserati shifters as they are, I ALWAYS know exactly where the up and down shifters are... they don't move! I never have to look down to find them or worse to figure out which is which.

You can't be serious!?!? On the street, you often need to shift mid-turn. For example, if you start in first from a left turn lane across a typical 6-lane road, you really want second before you exit the turn. You could rev it longer, but why? The F1 matches revs just fine... its not like you're going to lose traction. Even in a manual, I'd shift mid-turn there.

On the track, you shouldn't be shifting just anywhere... probably not at the apex of a turn... but I regularly shift mid-turn as I unwind the wheel before track-out. At MSR, to build on Rob's example, I need to shift in the middle of Wagon Wheel (the turn following Rattlesnake)... I also need to shift a little before track-out at Ricochet... and late in Big Bend. I wouldn't lose too much short-shifting Wagon Wheel, but both Ricochet and Big Bend are long, high-speed corners leading onto the two longest straights... if you short-shift those to avoid shifting in the turn, you'll lose a ton.

 

Right, but I said 'cranked' to the side The paddles are easily reached with a stretch of the pinky or pointer finger during normal driving like you just described. I do it all the time actually. However, in order for the paddles to be unreachable while your hands are at 9 and 3, you have to be in the middle of some serious turning... probably not the time you want to be grabbing another gear.

Even if you do feel the need to shift like that, I'm not sure what the problem is. On a standard manual transmission, you have to take your hand off the wheel regardless of steering wheel position, so I don't see how a quick reach to flick the paddle is any worse.

-R

 

The proponents of the steering wheel mounted shift all appear to be track users. On the track where you rarely have more 1/3rd of a turn of lock on the steering whee, this works well. On the street where you are often turning out of intersaection with more than 1/2 a turn of lock, it is virtually unusable. Why do you think BMW has the console mounted lever as well?

 

All I can say is that the way the buttons are placed on my Mercedes SL 55 AMG (behind the steering wheel) is completely crap.

It's what the other posters are saying: in the street when you turn 1/2 wheel or more you have to move your hands and then your fingers don't know where to go to press the levers. It's unlearnable. So whatever you do, don't vote for the Mercedes system.

As a result, I always drive in full-automatic mode, and I have had to learn how to play the gas pedal like a violin to get the computer to switch to the gear I want in every situation...

 

But the reality is 911 racers dont use the tip in manual mode. The Porsche tip is very very good in automatic mode and very few racers (I don't know of any) can outperform the tip in auto mode. Just spent 3 days with Porsche racing in 911s and instructors - and they let the transmission shift on its own. It is very, very good on a track.