SuperHICAS was Nissan's version, as used on the Skylines and some S-chassis cars, if I remember right.

I'm definitely a three-pedal devotee, but at the same time I can't blame Porsche for going PDK on the GT3. It's not because it's the best of the fastest option, though, but because whole point of the GT3 has been that it's the closest thing to the GT3 race cars, and these days racing cars are all sequential, so it stands to reason that the race-derived road car would be the same. The blogs seem to think the RS might offer a real manual box, and while I'd love to see that happen, I'm not holding my breath.

Of course, it's all academic for me, since the only chance I'll ever have of owning one will be in twenty years when it hits that "too old to be new, too new to be classic" stage that the 996 is in now, and hopefully I'll be in the price bracket to afford either the newest thing or a real classic one by then.

It was the Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo (not the 2+2) that first had SuperHICAS here in the States, IIRC.

That sounds about right. Looks like it was on the S13 240SX/Silvia as well, not sure if the Z32 or S13 had it first or whether the S13 had HICAS or SuperHICAS. I think something weird like a Maxima/Altima variant or something had it for a while too, although that might've only been overseas. I'm a former Nissan guy (S14 240SX) but things like this are starting to escape me after a decade since owning one...

I think it is a natural progression. I like a stick shift and will always drive a classic stick shift car for fun. It is what I grew up with. But I can't fault Porsche for having what's most effective today. The stick shift cars will be something like the air cooled cars - people with nostalgia will seek them out. Until nobody alive ever drove a stick, and then it will go the way of the Ford Model T.

G