‘I Wanted to Hate It’

One reason many car enthusiasts despise electric vehicles is their lack of soul and personality. They can’t benefit from the sound and feel of an engine and transmission, but automakers have introduced a tool that even Porsche is considering using—software that creates fake gear shifts. Is the end nigh?

No, it’s not, but even Porsche has realized that some people love a bit of friction in their driving experience. That’s why the automaker built an EV with paddle shifters, artificial engine noise, and fake gear shifts.

The company is testing what’s possible, and Porsche’s prototype fleet manager, Sascha Niesen, drove the concept in March. He told The Drive, “I wanted to hate it because it’s artificial and it’s fake and everything,” but he ended up liking it. 

Porsche recorded the sounds of a Cayenne V-8 engine for the artificial engine noises, which engineers then modified to fit the characteristics of an electric powertrain. According to Niesen, Porsche’s transmission engineers made it “feel like a proper torque converter gearbox. I could not tell the difference.”

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The most well-known EV with fake gear shifts on the market today is the Ioniq 5 N. It sounds like a gimmick, but we’ve called the technologies in the Hyundai “game changers,” and it could do the same for Porsche’s EVs.

It’s something that’s under consideration, Niesen told the publication. It’d require new hardware, like in the upcoming Cayenne EV, which lacks paddle shifters. But that should be an easy addition, giving Porsche buyers a choice in their driving experience, even if Niesen admits fake gear shifts don’t make much sense.

Sure, it might seem odd to nerf a new technology so it feels more natural, but Hyundai have proven that it can work. Even Ferrari is developing fake gear shifts for its first electric vehicle, so Porsche’s reversal on the matter doesn’t come as a surprise.

Car buyers, especially enthusiasts, want to feel something when they get behind the wheel, and that’ll require a few gimmicks in the EV era.