Well I was looking at experiences with driving a supercar at a racetrack and it says that a Lamborghini or Ferrari has a paddle shift but I don’t know what this means. I know what an automatic car is and a manual transmission but I don’t know if it is like gears and if you use your feet or your hands to operate it? Also if it has to do with the clutch or the brake and how it works with the throttle. Basically any more information about a Lamborghini or a Ferrari and how it is different to a normal gearbox in car in fact?
The “paddles” are found on either side of the steering wheel, kind of where blinker and wiper knobs would be. But they are much closer to the back of the steering wheel so that you can activate them without taking your hands off the wheel. To shift gears, there is no clutch pedal. You pull back (it’s more like a flick with 3-4 of your fingers) on the right tab to shift up a gear, and the left side to down shift.
What the hands in this video:
They are not just on supercars these days. My Mondeo (Fusion) has them and they let me override the gearbox. This is especially useful when approaching a sharp bend or a junction, as I can force a down-change ready to pull away if I can. I can also force a down-change on a down gradient. In the olden days there used to be a 1, 2, 3, D, on the gear lever. the paddled do the same job, but a lot better.
For the majority of new Ferraris and Lambos you’ll also have the option to drive like a manual (sans the need to operate a clutch) or have it drive like an auto. Which is a bonus to assist with the learning curve.
Very simply
It isn’t a CVT (continuously variable transmission) but a gearbox with discrete ratios and a clutch (or more often now a double clutch) and the switching up/down through those gears is done by means of pulling on two paddles just behind the wheel. This engages/disengages the clutch and changes the cogs by some tech wizardry. It does it much faster than can be done by an old style racing sequential gearbox. There is also the option of having it all working without your intervention, i.e. you just stick it into auto mode and it makes the choices and shifts for you without you having to touch the paddles at all.
ETA - I should’ve said that such transmissions are more commonly called “semi-automatic”
Just to add to the other responses, the modern ones are basically foolproof, in that they won’t let you change down too many gears, and if you don’t change up by the red line they’ll do it for you. So, ideal for a supercar experience taken by drivers not used to such machines - although the initial cost is more, I imagine the maintenance is less (and/or the lifespan is longer) than cars with manual gearboxes in similar circumstances.
Most of the time these are dual-clutch transmissions. There are two paths by which mechanical power can be routed from the input side (at the engine flywheel) to the output side (at the driveshaft). One path utilizes the odd-numbered gears (first gear, third gear, etc.) and the other path utilizes the even-numbered gears (second gear, fourth gear, etc.). Each path has its own clutch to engage/disengage the flywheel. There is no clutch pedal; the two concentric clutches (one for each power path) are controlled by the computer, not the driver. From a dead stop, you simply step on the accelerator, and the computer manages clutch engagement for the launch, using first gear on the odd-gear power path. On the even-gear power path, second gear is already selected, but its clutch is not yet engaged. When you hit the paddle shifter behind the steering wheel (it’s just an electrical switch), the computer disengages the clutch for the odd-gear power path (first gear) and engages the clutch for the even-gear power path (second gear). Once that’s done, the computer switches the odd-gear power path from first-gear to third gear so it’s ready for your next upshift.
Because the clutches are computer-controlled, gear changes can be commanded by the driver or the computer. Forget to downshift? No problem, the computer will downshift before you start lugging the engine. Forget to upshift? No problem, the computer will take care of that instead of letting you bounce off of the rev limiter. Downshift too soon? No problem, the computer won’t actually execute the downshift until it knows the engine won’t be driven past redline (i.e. no more “money shifts”). Tired of managing the gear changes yourself? No problem, put it on automatic and enjoy a carefree drive home.
This type of transmission has become ubiquitous in supercars because upshifts happen faster than can be done with a conventional manual transmission; this is because the computer always preselects the next highest gear on the power path not currently in use, so the power only needs to be interrupted for as long as it takes to engage a clutch (as opposed to the conventional sequence of clutch-in, shift, then clutch-out). Downshifts take slightly longer because the computer has to change the unused power path to the next lowest gear before swapping clutch engagement, but this isn’t an issue for performance driving, since you’re not trying to get power out of the engine while you’re braking for that next corner. Along the way, the computer takes care of rev-matching the engine so that when the clutch engages that next lower gear, the chassis doesn’t get jostled.
DCTs are also finding use in economy cars because they’re more efficient than a conventional automatic transmission (provided you always let the computer decide what gear the transmission be in). If you’re used to the slushiness of a conventional automatic, a DCT can feel weird to drive because it’s got that classic hard mechanical connection between the engine and the wheels that manual-transmission drivers love; for the average econobox owner, this can take some getting used to.
Great post, thanks. Supplementary question if I may - presumably you can still block-shift (e.g. from 2nd to 4th) by tapping the paddle the desired number of times, it just takes a little longer due the mechanics of it? Which is not a problem because if you’re doing that, by definition you’re not trying to get to the next corner a few tenths of a second faster than with a conventional manual.
I confess to having never personally driven a DCT-equipped car, so I don’t know for sure. I suspect it’ll just execute two shifts in sequence, executing the second shift only after having waited for the first shift to complete. If you’re really quick with the two shifts, and if it’s really smart, I suppose it might skip the intermediate clutch engagement so that it just goes clutch-in on the active power path, upshifts that same power path, and then goes clutch-out on that same power path.
I should point out too that having paddle shifters behind the steering wheel is not exclusive to DCTs. Example, the Infiniti Q60 includes paddle shifters but is equipped with a conventional automatic transmission.
There are also “automated manual transmissions”: this is basically a conventional manual transmission that has a computer managing gear selection and clutch operation. This provides the mechanical efficiency of a conventional manual transmission with the fuel economy one obtains from letting the computer decide which is the best gear to be in. They were briefly used in high-performance cars in the 2000s, but it looks like (for that application) they’ve been abandoned in favor of DCTs. However, automated manuals are being used on heavy-duty vehicles (e.g. long-haul trucks); these don’t need the super-fast shifting of DCTs, but the mechanical efficiency of a simple manual-style gearbox (together with automated gear selection) definitely does add value in that application by maximizing fuel economy.
My 2010 Honda Fit has them as well. I’ve never used them, except accidentally and I think the transmission has to be in Sport mode for them to be active. I’m usually in Drive mode, so I don’t think they’re even active.
For a historical perspective, the semiautomatic transmission was developed by the Ferrari F1 team and first raced in 1989. They were still the only team using one in 1990, but '91 was the last time a fully manual-transmission F1 car won the championship. The system proved to be such an advantage that they were ubiquitous by '92. The last F1 car to win with a manual was the Benetton in '92 and the last to even start a race with the full manual was Forti in 1995.
Since there’s no motorsports going on at the moment, I’ve been binge-watching F1 racing beginning with the 1988 season, and I’m on the 1990 season now. The commentators mention the Ferrari gearbox constantly. The way they were implemented then was as a sequential shifter, like a motorcycle, but apparently they could be set up to skip gears if desired. In the 1990 Monaco Grand Prix, there was a crash that blocked the track (at Mirabeau, if you know the track) on the first lap, which also collected Ferrari driver Alan Prost. The race was stopped and Prost returned to the pits for the backup car for the restart, which gave him some difficulty because it had been set up for his teammate Nigel Mansel. Among other things, Prost liked his gearbox to downshift from 6th straight to 4th, skipping 5th, while Mansel’s box was set to always go in sequence.
My 2015 Subaru Outback with a CVT transmission has shift paddles.
In normal mode, the car has the normal infinitely variable transmission with no shift points.
When put into manual shift by pulling the transmission shift lever to the left position, the paddles just under the rim of the steering wheel are used to shift. There are either 4 or 5 “gears” (I don’t remember which), which are locked in place until I choose a different gear than the one I am in. I choose to shift up with the + paddle, and down with the - paddle. Works really well and feels solid. I have only used it for going down steep long grades, and a couple of times just goofing around on a windy road.