A lot of people get confused with BMW’s launch control sequence but it’s really not as hard to activate it as some make it sound. Actually, it’s a lot like any other system out there. We had no problem activating it either when testing the M4 or when testing other cars because they are basically identical, with one small difference.
Therefore, let’s take a look at the steps you have to go through to activate Launch Control on the brand new M3 and M4 models.
Step 1: come to a complete stop and keep pressing the brake pedal with the left foot.
Step 2: deactivate DSC. This can be achieved in two ways: keep pressing the DSC button (located next to the shifter) or enter Sport+ mode.
Step 3: get the gearbox in the sport mode. On regular BMWs that can be achieved by tilting the gearshift lever to the left but on M cars you have to tilt it to the right.
Step 4: press the gas pedal beyond the kick-down point and at this point a flag will show up in your instrument cluster telling you that Launch Control is active.
Step 5: release the brake pedal and enjoy the ride
On the more recent M cars you can now choose the RPM at which the launch sequence will activate. Therefore, using the left cruise control button you can now choose the preferred RPM if you think it will make an improvement over the stock setting (which is around 3,000 RPM).
In case you still don’t know exactly how all of this is done, check out the video below.
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