Wolverine said:
We must be losing something in the translation here.
The SMGII is barely quicker than the best manual shifters (ref comparison article M3 6sp vs M3 SMG). So how does a 20% improvement over the SMG II make it '10 times faster'?
A few things to keep in mind.
The M5 isn't designed for a human to do the shifting unlike the SMG II which shared parts with the non SMG version.
so
The gearbox, clutch, and flywheel can be designed without the compromise needed to allow for ease of use. We know the gearbox has an abnormal pattern. The clutch is a twin plate. I would assume the flywheel is much ligher than normal.
This means
The lightweight flywheel and clutch stores far less energy. This means the car accelerates better in gear since less of the energy produced by the engine is stored in the flywheel. Also since its this energy that gets disapated in the form of a thump when the next gear engages the jolt should be far less with SMG III. Also since the flywheel is lighter the engine can build revs faster for a downshift.