Question about D/S for SMG cars (M6)

[S4NoMore]

Still relatively new to the car (had it for about 3 weeks), unsure about D/S as indicated on the SMG knob. In other BMWs I've seen (with Steptronic), when the shifter is moved from D over to the manual shifting side, the gear indicator in-cluster reads "S". I assumed it would be the same in SMG, seeing how it says D/S with an arrow to the right... but when the shifter is moved over, the gear indicator reads the current gear. This makes me think there is no "sport" program, just D and manual shifting. Am I right or wrong here? The other thought I have is that when the current gear comes up, that is sport mode and it will just shift at redline? I never tried moving out of drive, accelerating, and not shifting myself... afraid of bouncing off that crazy high rev limiter. Someone enlighten me on the details of SMG, thanks for the help.

[MRichmond]

Still relatively new to the car (had it for about 3 weeks), unsure about D/S as indicated on the SMG knob. In other BMWs I've seen (with Steptronic), when the shifter is moved from D over to the manual shifting side, the gear indicator in-cluster reads "S". I assumed it would be the same in SMG, seeing how it says D/S with an arrow to the right... but when the shifter is moved over, the gear indicator reads the current gear. This makes me think there is no "sport" program, just D and manual shifting. Am I right or wrong here? The other thought I have is that when the current gear comes up, that is sport mode and it will just shift at redline? I never tried moving out of drive, accelerating, and not shifting myself... afraid of bouncing off that crazy high rev limiter. Someone enlighten me on the details of SMG, thanks for the help.

Uhmmm, some quality time with the manual is in order. Here's the Reader's Digest version:

D Mode (indicator shows "D" and gear) is the automatic mode.

S Mode (indicator shows only the gear) is the manual shifting mode.

There is no single "sport" program as you are used to in the previous non-M cars. The M6 allows you to fine-tune your settings by (1) altering the speed with which the SMG shifts (the toggle just aft of the gear selector), (2) the suspension stiffness (comfort, normal and sport via the EDC button), (3) the power (400 hp or 500 hp -- see "Power" button), (4) the dynamic stability control (on, M Dynamic mode, or off via the DSC button and iDrive), (5) throttle response (P500Sport via iDrive), and (6) steering effort (increased when EDC normal or sport selected). The various permutations permit 279 combinations. You can program your favorite into the "M" button on the steering wheel. Experiment with various settings and decide which you like best.