How do the various suspension options function differently in the different drive modes?

[TDinDC]

So . . . I was misbehaving a bit yesterday. I was taking a smoothed-out right-hand 90 degree slightly off-camber corner at about 50 mph and accelerating gently as I approached the apex.

I was in individual mode, which is based on Sport BUT I had adjusted the suspension setting back to normal for everyday driving. As such, rather than really being in Sport I believe I was closer to being in normal mode. I had forgotten all of this and thought I was in Sport. Also, my Taycan, a 4S Cross Turismo, has all of the suspension and assist options (and ceramic brakes).

In any event, between turn in and apex, I felt the rear passenger side of the car start to lift and then, rather abruptly, squat back down. I assume this was PDCC automatically adjusting from a less aggressive setting to a more aggressive setting based on the sensor detecting roll, right? Anyone here know?

This made me wonder, how do the various suspension options work together in the various modes, and, in each mode, when does it kick in to save you from yourself (and when does it so you can play with the car)?

I view the Taycan like a digital version of a car, and the older non-electronic granny race cars as the analog versions. On the older cars, if your car was set up correctly, the handling was rather linear (and therefore predictable) no matter what style of handling you preferred (e.g., slight under steer, slight over steer, LFB). With the digital versions, I think it is important (or at least interesting) to know when the car is changing your suspension on your behalf.

So, anyone looked into this or seen any articles about this?

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[Fish Fingers]

This may answer some of your questions. .

 

[TDinDC]

This may answer some of your questions. .

Thank you. Yes, it is helpful up to a point (I had actually seen it, which led to my question). For example, take PDCC. I have the following two questions: (1) what is the exact difference between “Normal” PDCC and “Sport” PDCC; and (2) Will the car automatically change from “Normal” PDCC to “Sport” PDCC (i.e., without driver intervention) if the sensors detect that the roll of the car has exceeded a certain threshold?

My experience yesterday led to to believe that the answer to question 2 is ”Yes”, but it would be interesting to confirm and, if true, understand a little more about how it works. Getting answers out of Porsche is, well, challenging.

I have the same questions about the other suspension options, like rear wheel steering, PTM, PTV, etc . . .

 

[TDinDC]

@f1eng

any information on this? I was hoping that a fellow engineering nerd would have looked into this as well . . .

 

[f1eng]

@f1eng

any information on this? I was hoping that a fellow engineering nerd would have looked into this as well . . .

No idea what they do here.
My experience is all in setting up F1 and Le Mans racing cars.

I am not that interested by road cars and usually assume their engineers know more than me about what is needed.

I would have thought, though, that all controlled systems act fast enough for the driver to be unaware of them.

How good traditional cars were varied a lot IME.

 

[TDinDC]

Thanks for responding. I don't even like driving on public roads (and in fact would never do so if I could avoid it), so I understand what you are saying.

I am just generally interested in the lack of transparency on how these assistance technologies work, not because I can change it (or would), but just out of curiosity, in part so that I can know how I want to use the settings and in part because I, like you, would have assumed that the intervention would be subtle, but I assure you it was not.

But mostly I am a geek about the engineering issues, and have the feeling you may be as well. In my former race car, I had several sensors, and I thoroughly enjoyed analyzing the data from the completely analog car without anything other than ABS to understand how the car was performing, but more often how much I, like everyone, lied to myself: I thought I was doing X, but I was really doing X-10% or, occasionally, Y.

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