Ok, I finally got to check out these replays mentioned in the first post. The thing that really struck me as odd was they are obviously in non-clutch mode for the down shifts. So it seemed like they were switching back and forth between the clutch & non clutch modes. Do you see where I'm going with this... Anyway after playing around a bit I was then able to reproduce something very similar with my G25, although I think any wheel with an H pattern shifter could replicate it.
Good news is PD can eliminate this real easy with a small code change.
I was able to make a shift that looked similar to the replay by hitting the triangle at just the right time during a shift. You have to be in non-clutch mode before you shift, if you hit the triangle at just the right time while moving the stick (and not lifting the gas) you can get a shift that looks just like what they are doing. So you build something that monitors the stick Y position and presses the triangle at the right time, and there you have it. Thats my guess anyway as to what they have built.
If PD changed things to not allow the clutch mode change during a shift then this can't be done. I suppose you could call it a code bug to allow a mode change during the shift.