Very well written and interesting perspective.
Personally I tend to drive the DCT is S-Mode a lot and use the knob on the center console to shift when I want to shift. I usually drive the M5 around the city with the rev's higher all of the time. In this way it feels like a very exciting car to drive to me, based on the sound of the exhaust from driving around at high rev's.
I usually don't drive around the city using the paddle shifters, but I still find that the driving experience is just as good when keeping the rev's high.