Something I've noticed when I'm in sport mode and driving on the highway, is when I apply the brakes, the RPMs don't really drop, instead it lags behind and gets hung up and the car kinda jolts a little bit. It's trying to downshift but it can't keep up with the drop in speed and it kinda goes haywire.

My cousin drives an 07 IS 350 and it kinda does the same thing when in sport mode. Does anyone have this issue/know what I'm talking about?

it doesn't do this in any other driving mode.

 

That' is just how sport mode is expected to work. When you break hard, it will downshift so that you have enough power after that.

 

Sport mode is anticipating that after that quick braking that you will be hitting the gas hard with the intention of accelerating again. This is why it locks the car into a higher gear. Imagine braking going into a turn on a racetrack, then needing to immediately have full acceleration to get out of the corner as fast as possible. Kind of annoying, but it's the car trying to be 1 step ahead of the driver. nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Exactly

 

That's normal for sport mode. If you don't like it, leave it I'm normal mode.

 

The problem with how Lexus tuned it (at least with how they tuned my 2013 RWD F Sport model) is that it overdoes it for street driving and doesn't do it enough for track driving.

Just finished my first track weekend a few weeks ago. First day it poured rain all day; second day was dry. I kept in in Drive for a few sessions to test how it operates (mostly kept it in Sport in the wet and Sport+ in the dry). Eventually I got sick of it always upshifting mid-corner. On the other hand, the manual mode works pretty well. It's no DSG, but it is pretty good for a regular old automatic transmission with 'manual' shift ability.

 

you also have to consider rev matching

 

Its all about choosing the right mode for your situation. For instance...sport mode when driving down a straight highway probably doesn't make a lot of sense. On a twisty backroad where one is going to be braking and accelerating out of curves is a different story.