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The new Porsche 911 GT3 is better than you, and it'll let you know when it gets bored by becoming a machine made of pure anger. But it won't bite unless you're a colossal moron.
Some things in life simply aren't fair. I'm short, started balding before I hit 30 and don't get on well with cheese. Those things aren't fair. Nor is the fact that I'll likely not get a 991.2 Porsche 911 GT3 of my own, because it is simply brilliant. It's not without flaws, sure, but there's no Photoshop in the real world and nothing should be perfect anyway.
Porsche's GT cars are always a bit special. From their genesis, the 2.7 liter RS of the 1970's, to the electrifying 991.1 GT3 RS and the unjustly brilliant Cayman GT4, they're uncompromising speed machines designed to get around circuits faster than the other guy with as little fuss as possible. The latest iteration of 911 GT3 is of the same ilk, which means it's a 911 plus. It's the car from fifty years ago with fewer toys and more grunt.
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The new GT3 gets a 4.0-liter H6 engine with 500 horsepower and 339 pound-feet of torque. There are no turbochargers to boost its torque (or blunt its noise), no superchargers to make it whine. It is what it is, and what it is... is a racecar engine. Sort of. Porsche claims the GT3's motor is very, very, very similar to the one found in its racing cars. Having experienced its wail, I'm not going to accuse Porsche of lying.
On startup it sounds pretty rough, but so do most motors. But, unlike most motors, once you lean on it, it howls the song of its people. Its people, incidentally, like singing loudly. There's not as much sound deadening in the GT3 as a regular 911, and there aren't any rear seats either, so all the noise from its rear mounted engine finds it way into the car.
That noise, by the way, doesn't stop until around 9000 rpm, when it changes gear and repeats a verse. Naturally aspirated cars are a dying breed, but the GT3 makes a compelling case for this allegedly outdated way of doing things. The new turbocharged 911s sound like they're shouting into a pillow. This sounds like it shouted its way through a plate glass window.
Power delivery is instant, and the throttle response is sharp and easy to control. While the motor does like to spin up super quick after 4,000 rpm, it's not quite as urgent before that, but still fast enough to catch you off guard. You can easily drive it on the throttle in the corners because it's so delightfully adjustable.
Porsche's not taken any chances with the steering, either. It's not got a ton of lock, but what you do get is nothing short of phenomenal. It's direct, crisp, and so feedback-tastic that you'll notice the tiniest change in road surface through your pinkie. Turn-in feels alive in the GT3, in the way you thought all fast cars should handle when you were a kid.
Push too hard into a corner and you'll be greeted with some "slow it down, newbie" understeer. Compose yourself and have another go and you'll find one of the finest handling cars out there. Its chassis is incredible, handling sublime. Point it in a direction, feed in the power and... boom! You're there. You can turn the stability control off to give it a little bit of slip in the corners or turn everything off to fling it around like a fool -- a fool who giggles because he's sliding around in a GT3.
It's hard to find its limit if you're not a pro driver (and I'm no racer), but once you get it there you have two choices: 1) Keep it below and go round a corner so fast your cheeks start to peel away from your face. 2) Have a go at a slide. Or six. You'll end up spinning a few times, but catch the rear fast enough and it's wickedly precise to control. A tiny throttle adjustment here, a bit of steering there... The stuff dreams are made of.
It comes with rear-axle steering, as well, so when you're going slowly the rear wheels will turn the opposite way to the fronts for better maneuvering. At higher speeds, they turn the same way, allowing you to take a better line.
Now, the 991.2 GT3 can have, thank the gods, a six-speed manual gearbox. Its predecessor only came with a paddle shifter, and that irked a ton of people because it meant they couldn't change gears themselves, despite wanting to feel like a racing driver. Who cares that the PDK could do the job faster, better than a human? They wanted to feel like they were in full control. I get that, it's admirable. I'm one of those people 99% of the time. But, having played with the PDK here, I'm not sure I'd go stick. On the numbers front, the PDK will get the GT3 from 0 to 62 mph in 3.4 seconds, a full 0.5 seconds quicker than the stick.
The PDK, though, with a big 'ol runway ahead of it, will hit a mere 197 mph to the stick's 198. It seems you can't have it all. Though why on earth you'd need to do 198 mph is beyond even me. While the manual will undoubtedly offer more perceived control and more actual engagement, the PDK is quicker, offers fantastic control, and every time you hit pull the paddle at high revs it makes the motor elicit a short, sharp crack as it hits a higher gear.
Carbon-ceramic brakes sit at each corner. This is good, because it keeps weight down, and it gives the GT3 a brisk stop. There's not much travel to the pedal, so you need to be prepared to stop very quickly a few times before you get it. But once you find your jam you'll find decent feel and precise adjustments at the tips of your toes.
Speaking of weight, you've got 3,153 pounds to play with. This isn't not a heavy car at all. Porsche went to great lengths to shave pounds off. There are no rear seats, a magnesium roof, a redesigned front and rear end made of shiny lightweight materials and a carbon wing. When you're really flying you feel its lack of extra poundage. Where others would have a slight, but noticeable lean, the GT3 seems to stay pretty planted. Especially with the chassis set to Sport mode.
The new GT3 gets Porsche's latest infotainment system as well. It works well in other models, and while it would have been fun to play with it more in the GT3, I was given a race track and a strict time limit. I didn't waste that time checking if the nav was up to snuff. It's Porsche. It will be.
So it seems pretty perfect, huh? Well... no. It isn't. Sure, it handles like a brilliant thing, it sounds amazing, goes like stink and so on -- but I couldn't use it more than a few times a year. Why? Because I like people, and I like it too much.
Having no rear seats and less sound deadening sounds wonderful if you want something to take to the track. But what about getting there? Or going to the office on the regular? All noise is overridden by the engine -- conversations sucked from the front to the noisy void behind. After a couple of longish trips around town and to visit friends in far off places, I'd end up hating it, because it saps all the fun from the normal.
Put it like this: You meet your ideal partner, they're funny, you share similar interests and you spend a great first few months together. Then you spend a week together and find out they trim their toenails with their teeth and never close the door while they're in the bathroom. All of a sudden your shared love of independent European cinema loses its shine a bit, doesn't it?
The 991.2 Porsche 911 GT3 is a superb piece of engineering, easily one of the finest cars Porsche's ever produced. It makes you feel alive to drive fast, it talks to you, wants to make you better and rewards you for being so. But for the love of all things holy -- keep it as an occasional toy. And let me use it when you're not.