http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/launch-party-is-over-for-nissan-gt-r/?ei=5070
"As Exhibit A, I give you the Nissan GT-R and its soon-to-be-discontinued launch control feature: A bunch of people bought GT-Rs and fried their transmissions using launch control. Said customers then hit Nissan with warranty claims, at which point Nissan took its toy and went home. Thus the 2009 GT-R will be the only vintage of the car with the factory-sanctioned ability to perform a high-r.p.m. clutch drop from a standstill. I’m not sure whether that will make 2009 GT-Rs more valuable on the used-car market, or less."
"Then there’s Porsche’s new PDK dual-clutch transmission. A base Porsche 911 Carrera with a six-speed manual can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.7 seconds. The same car with PDK and launch control is actually four-tenths of a second faster. There are no restrictions on how often you can use launch control, and the warranty is identical to that of non-PDK cars. I suppose time will tell whether Porsche, unlike Nissan, has designed a transmission tough enough that launch control doesn’t lead directly to legal damage control."
"As Exhibit A, I give you the Nissan GT-R and its soon-to-be-discontinued launch control feature: A bunch of people bought GT-Rs and fried their transmissions using launch control. Said customers then hit Nissan with warranty claims, at which point Nissan took its toy and went home. Thus the 2009 GT-R will be the only vintage of the car with the factory-sanctioned ability to perform a high-r.p.m. clutch drop from a standstill. I’m not sure whether that will make 2009 GT-Rs more valuable on the used-car market, or less."
"Then there’s Porsche’s new PDK dual-clutch transmission. A base Porsche 911 Carrera with a six-speed manual can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.7 seconds. The same car with PDK and launch control is actually four-tenths of a second faster. There are no restrictions on how often you can use launch control, and the warranty is identical to that of non-PDK cars. I suppose time will tell whether Porsche, unlike Nissan, has designed a transmission tough enough that launch control doesn’t lead directly to legal damage control."
