Shifting hard

nflpats, do you mean shifting UP while above 4500 rpm? For drivers only used to automatic transmissions in non-sporting cars, it would be naturally for them to expect any car, even a Ferrari to shift "gently" (smoothly) when everything is working properly. However, this belief is mistaken.

Car manufacturers like Ferrari can make their cars shift gears gently or aggressively but it is generally-accepted that it is not a good marketing idea to have sports cars shift too smoothly or too aggressively. If it's too smooth, the car feels detached, distant and soft, not sporty at all. That is one inherent reason why Lexus fails as a sporty brand. OTOH, if the shifts are too harsh it becomes tiresome as you cannot feel like you are thrashing the car every time and all the time you drive it, outside of a track.

Your car's engine will develop sufficient torque, fuel consumption and exhaust velocity at engine speeds above 4000 rpm to allow it to exhibit the side effects of sharp (abrupt) changes in throttle setting, behaviour that is normally associated with race cars. It is the abrupt changes in throttle that creates the "hard" sensations you are feeling. Race cars have to have sharp throttle responses or they cannot accelerate as well. When you upshift at a higher engine rpm, there will be a bit of unburnt gas getting by the exhaust valves before the ECU executes the actual upshift. This unburnt gas ignites inside the hot exhaust system with a slight "bang". In addition, the gear shift is done more quickly so the higher gear will engage slightly out-of-sync and at higher engine revs than it would if it were to engage completely smooth so there will be a slight jolt. If the ECU were to close the throttle slightly earlier, there will be no bang and no jolt, but it will slightly retard the pace; not exactly conducive to faster acceleration. When you drive a stick shift sports car, you actually plan and do all of this by design. The smoothest manual upshift is done by slightly pausing the throttle after you declutch (disengage the clutch), BEFORE you engage the higher gear. This allows the engine revs to drop slightly, so the higher gear will engage without bogging.

"Hard" gear shift sensations are even more pronounced in DOWN shifts because the ECU performs rev-matching to engage a lower gear. The ECU will apply a sharp throttle to abruptly increase engine rpm in the instance of time between disengaging the current gear and engaging the next lower gear, to facilitate a smoother engaging of the lower gear. Some of the gas from the abrupt throttle application will again get by the exhaust valves just before the lower gear engages and this can ignite in the exhaust system just like in the upshift but since the gas comes from sudden INCREASE in throttle, there is usually more gas escaping than with an upshift and the "bang" would be even more spectacular.

The downshift action is largely smooth at low engine rpm but at high engine rpm it will feel "harder" since you were already at high engine rpm before the downshift. The engine will race as the transmission engages a lower gear.

If you like the "race car" sensations, they work better after the exhaust system warms up, because it is the heat in the exhaust system that ignites the unburnt gas, to create the noise. Otherwise, unburnt gas will escape, quietly, still unburnt.

BTW, the exhaust bangs can be coaxed simply by accelerating hard (in the lower gears) and then suddenly lifting throttle. Again, the ensuing deceleration and exhaust banging will feel "hard". SPORT mode accentuates this because the ECU sharpens the throttle responses, everything.

Most of this is relatively muted with a traditional automatic transmission because the gears are engaged through a fuzzy "black box" hydraulic torque converter (slush box). That's why automatic transmission cars are comparatively inefficient, slow-reacting, dull and boring.