Paddle Shifting on Gen 3

[smurfslayer]

be in sport mode if using manual shifting--the blips on the downshifts make it much smoother

That would be new behavior on the Jen Tres. On the Jen Too, the paddle shifting in manual mode is exactly the same in normal/sport mode, notwithstanding any differences applied to suspension, brake bias, etc.

Agreed, the paddles are just a gimmick on these trucks. I don't see how a conventional 10-speed automatic will ever be all that enjoyable to shift manually--even if they can speed up the changing of gears, there's still too many of them to go through without getting exhausted pretty quickly.

You are not doing it right.

I don’t think anyone at Ford envisioned you rowing through all 10 gears from stop and go traffic all the way to 85mph and back down again on the street. As with any of the Raptor driver aids, there are more correct use cases and less correct use cases.
Beach traffic or Island time: Even I use ‘normal’ mode.
interstate traffic: Sport mode. Any east coast license plate; you leave a 6 foot gap, some knucklehead suv driver will try to get in.
spirited backroad driving: Sport mode or manual mode. You’re not dropping all the way to first or rowing all the way to 10th.
Off road: Pick a mode that suits your needs. Manual shifting mode is helpful when you need to be sure your gear is maintained predictably and applied as you expect it. I think ’17 mud and sand works great off road for most of my use cases, but I’ll sometimes opt for manual mode if I need to hold a gear or gear range.

There is also the difference in function for the paddles.
Without selecting manual shift mode, the paddles only lock out or add back certain gears. It’s a truck, not a car. If use the paddles to shift this way, the performance can be lackluster.

Selecting manual shift mode makes the paddles behave like typical car paddles where hitting minus commands a downshift, hitting plus commands an upshift.

You’re correct, if you try running errands shifting manually, you’ll get tired of it quickly, especially if you have to make any quick 90 degree turns because first gear is gone really fast. it’s very hard to apply even gentle throttle in a 90 degree turn and be able to upshift to 2nd while unwinding the steering wheel before first gear is banging the rev limiter.

So, use the right mode for what you need to do.

 

[tooloud10]

You are not doing it right.

Actually, I'm not doing it at all--haven't touched the paddles since trying them the first day I owned the truck. I call them a gimmick because they're slow to react in a traditional automatic and it seems that it just became trendy to have them after a few high-revving sports cars with automated manual transmissions started putting them in street cars.

Paddles are truly enjoyable to use when attached to a transmission with 60ms shift times because it feels instantaneous. In my pickup with a traditional auto, paddles just feel like a '****' way to make lazy manual shifts.

EDIT: I guess FRF thinks the word 'r a c y' is a bad word.

So, use the right mode for what you need to do.

Rarely use the modes, either. I don't like how sport mode hangs on to gears for so long, I don't care for the snow mode because it deadens the inputs so much, and I've never really played with the others.

I'm good with regular old 'normal' and I'm OK with that.

 

[smurfslayer]

I'm good with regular old 'normal' and I'm OK with that.

It hurts my eyes to read that! ;-)

Raptor Assault teaches a new respect for the drive modes, as well as capability the truck really has. I dial up mud/sand as my go to off road.

I hear you about sport mode, it took some getting used to, but, I get it. If you’re on some back road with a low speed limit, try sport mode and give it a fair shake. The truck is in the power band or close, it responds better and it’s much more entertaining to drive.

Or, if you have a short section of fun curves, pull up manual shifting on the fly, gear down to where you want it and learn the paddles. Learn how the truck takes input and get used to it. She’s not an F1 car, but no F1 car would survive .25 miles of terrain the Raptor could do at 50mph.

The Raptor doesn’t do everything perfect, but there is a good, albeit limited use case for manually shifting in some circumstances.