We had seven and eight-speed auto ‘boxes, and we will soon a get a nine-speed as well, but we never had a seven-speed manual. Until now, apparently!

According to legitimate sources Porsche has plans to offer a seven-speed manual transmission as an option for the next generation 911. Now that’s a bit too much to be honest! Your arms may come off as a result of constant gear changes and your left leg might get numb for continuously pressing the clutch. It’s not exactly beneficial. Or is it?

Well, seven-speed certainly sounds nice for publicity because people always think more is better. Besides that, they say the seventh gear will have a tall ratio for long distance cruising which results in less fuel consumption and noise. That’s what the 5th and then 6th gears used to do in the olden days. But now they can be used for acceleration and speed.

James May once wrote an article in Top Gear magazine about the number of gears and compared it to the number of blades in new razors. He says they’re only doing it because some day some guy did one with four, then some other guy came up and did five, and once the ball starts rolling there’s not much you can do to stop it!

via: C&D