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On June 1 everyone could start buying the new Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS (42056) and then spending several hours building the impressive car from the ground up.
It didn’t take long (well, a few hours) before reports began to surface with a problem in this complex set. People started saying that LEGO had made a mistake and the Porsche’s gear shifting pattern was 1-3-2-4 instead of the normal sequential 1-2-3-4. LEGO had apparently mixed up the 2 gears involved in the shifting. Some people were outraged, some figured out how to fix it and some just carried on.
Yesterday, just 1 day after the release, The LEGO Group issued an official statement via the LAN (LEGO Ambassador Network) on the problem, or lack of problem.
“Thank you to all our dedicated fans for the comments regarding the GT3 RS by LEGO Technic.
It is correct that the gears in this model are not sequential as in the real Porsche PDK. This is however, a deliberate decision taken to ensure that we make the best possible LEGO version of this amazing car that both meets our design requirements and gives everyone a great building and product experience.
It was a considered decision taken during development that the gears running in the correct order meant that it did not result in a great experience when driving the car. Too many gears are engaged at the same time and smooth running with all those tolerances is just not possible.
If you switch the build in steps 267 and 269 the gears will run sequentially, and everyone who feels that this is the better solution should feel encouraged to do so.
LEGO Technic really is the ultimate open source design product and now that it is finally available, we look forward to seeing all the ‘improved’ models our fans create. After all, that is what LEGO building is all about.
We hope everyone will have a great building experience and feel a strong sense of pride from creating both our version and their very own LEGO Technic representation of a Porsche GT3 RS. We are very fortunate to have such skilled and dedicated fans that can spot this small deviation from reality and would like to thank everyone for sharing their ideas and expert knowledge.”
So, there you have it. LEGO acknowledged a problem and provided a solution, but also explained that they had actually made a conscious decision to ensure the model was the best it could be, and left it to the builders to decide whether or not to fix the problem.
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