TAPshift no acceleration difference?

Question(s) for all the WS6'ers : The July Car & Driver article on the GTP Comp G says that the TAPshift produces the same acceleration as the automatic. I would think it would be a little bit quicker . What are the real-life experiences out there?

Also, there's still quite the difference of opinion on the harshness of the ride. Even the author of the April C&D article (which was much more positive overall) said in the new issue that the ride was now too harsh , but others though it was OK. I guess ride harshness is in the backside of the beholder :p . How are the real-life experiences in that regard?

It is a harder ride, compared to my previous 2000 GT...but I don't find it too harsh.

They are *way* off in those comments about the auto vs tapshift. In auto, it's no slouch...powerful and all. But when I drop it into Manual...it's like a different car in my opinion. Real jumpy off the line and you don't have to really jam on the throttle to get the response either like you do in auto or in previous gens of GPs (stock).

I have zero complaints so far and I've had mine for almost a month now. I hit 1,000km on it so the initial brake in is done, christened it with it's first kill 2 days ago...a Lexus GS 300 that wanted a piece of me, all he got was a look and from WAY behind at that.

I'm real happy with it.

I completely disagree with Car & Driver. There's a big difference. Drop the TapShift into "1" and gently increase speed to about 15 mph, then stomp on it! It reminds me of the acceleration generated in first gear by my GTO which is equipped with a four speed and 3.55 rear end. By the way, I don't think that the ride is too harsh at all!

Oddly, mine seems just as responsive in D as it does in M. Perhaps because I seldom use D the PCM has learned to emulate the way I drive in M....I'm not sure. Bottom line is the car is surprisingly spirited in D, down-shifting at light throttle inputs and holding gears longer than I had expected.

There should be no acceleration advantage in M over D. Actually, in real-world driving you'll often be slower in M because you're more likely to bounce off the rev limiter. D will run right up there and shift without the loss of power that you get on the bounce. A drag racer on another forum stated that his best 1/4 mile times were in D with the T/C on.