Had a drive in my mates 07 TT 3.2 DSG at the weekend so I’m no longer a DSG virgin!!
I was very impressed at how easy it was to get used to going down the gears with the left hand and up with the right, I actually felt fairly confident after only a few minutes of driving, obviously it's trickier for a newbee when maneuvering at low speeds in a car park etc and I found myself looking down at the stick a lot to get it into R and manual modes but obviously knowing your way around the gear lever would become second nature after a while. I did slam my left foot on the brake pedal by mistake at crawling speed, when looking for the clutch pedal out of habit, causing us both to shoot forward onto our seat belts! So you definitely have to 'unlearn' some habits.
After about half an hour of driving I was still unsure whether I preferred it to a manual. I was definitely not getting the best out of the 3.2 and was staying in 1st gear longer than I would normally when setting of, but once driving it felt unbelievably smooth. And that is what I didn't like about it, it almost felt like I was driving the TT with the controls from a Playstation and I felt totally disconnected from the engine. I also can't remember if the ECU blips the throttle on downshifts which is something I would be looking for in a semi-manual to make it more interesting.
Another problem I have with it is, as R32UK says, I think the novelty of using the paddles would wear off and end up using it in D or S most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I think it’s a brilliant system but I think I'll need a few more drives in one before I would consider it in my next car.
Isn’t an upcoming version of the DSG going to have 7 speeds? Or have I dreamt that…