[Steve 113]

As someone who has taken apart and rebuilt a bmw transfer case before I can tell you that the output shaft from the transmission is a direct drive to the shaft in the transfer case which goes to the rear. The only difference is as these clutches engage it will leach power from that output shaft going to the rear and put it to the front and never disconnect from the rear.

[Rocklicker]

Yup, and at a 40:60 power standard power split that also means it's not changing much torque lock-up to go from 40:60 to 50:50. Loose surface traction is definitely the focus of this AWD system rather than road performance.
(i'm assuming it's 40:60, I could be wrong)
Actually in that regard it's a lot like a viscous coupling, which is a pretty old style of center differential (got one of those in the stable too).