This really bugs me. Why does it have a "regular" transmission instead of the audi flagship transmission?

and developing one in such short time would be much more expensive than carrying over the E-gear. The development costs for the E-gear were paid long ago.

capability and Haldex awd. BorgWarner designed and builds it (and supplies the clutches for the Ricardo unit below as well).

The other DSG transmission is built for Bugatti by Ricardo. It's designed for an entirely different platform and costs approx $40,000 each, built at a rate of 2 per week.

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4909/

Since the R8 piggy-backs on the development already carried out by Lamborghini, it is cost effective to use transmissions already designed for the application rather than develop a whole new version that cannot be used in any car except the R8 and Gallardo.

Our next exposure to DSG should be in the B8 based cars like the A5 and A4 - although perhaps with delayed introduction.