RE: Porsche 911 GT3 vs The Road

RE: Porsche 911 GT3 vs The Road

Author
Discussion

Contigo

3,113 posts

208 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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What sound?

Tarico

56 posts

161 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Routemap, please!

iloveboost

1,531 posts

161 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Some lovely roads there. On a sunny day Wales is gorgeous, but as it's Wales it's hit and miss. biggrin
Was that the TCS cutting in at 2:37? Sounded like it, as you were a bit ambitious with the throttle. biggrin

The Pits

4,289 posts

239 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Not so much as a syllable about the electric steering!

You need to go back there with a 997 and do a back to back comparison or don't Porsche allow that in their advertorials these days?

I'm still waiting to read any meaningful criticism about a car that is rear engined, auto only, heavier than its predecessor and with electric 4-wheel steering. Even Dan's whole 'scary at Silverstone' article had a positive spin on it - i.e. don't worry folks it's still scary, it hasn't been sanitised, like it's a good thing.

My experience of the car is very different to what I have read and no I didn't fall 'hopelessly in love'.

'PDK is almost seamless' that's true up to the mid-range but not true near the redline is it? Unlike, say, the Nissan GTR gearshift for example, which remains seamless right to the limiter. PDK changes gear with a jolt at high revs which was a big surprise after all I had read. Ah sure, just splitting hairs? If it's not seamless it's no longer an option to shift up mid corner at speed (like you can in a GTR) therefore taking away one of the real advantages of a good DCT over a manual.

It's a great car the new GT3 but no car is beyond criticism.

Looks like we will have to wait until the RS comes out before we read about the GT3's shortcomings, as per usual!

Cotic

469 posts

151 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Article may as well have said:
Behold, the ubiquitous surfing shark that is the nine-eleven; familiar and comfortable, a mistress of old, a maiden no more. But, this is no toothless crone; no buxom beauty. This is an athlete, a wiry vixen which will scold and dominate with every whip-crack and step of a patent leather stiletto boot. This is a lady that goes by the name of….. Gee. Tee. Three.
I'm only disappointed that the keys weren't thrown off a car park at the start.

Alfa159Ti

827 posts

156 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Good write up - that thing sounds absolutely glorious. Nice to hear (read?!) a bit of love for a paddleshift gearbox for a change too, rather than the stereotypical luddite moaning about the death of the manual box.

My (infinitely more tame) Z4 Coupe has a paddleshift and I am fortunate to have to take it through Mid Wales to see family a few times a year. On good roads with the sport button engaged to crispen up the throttle response and add weight to the steering, I find it engages and excites me in a way that no manual car has before it.

Looks like you had a lot of fun with it and great to see it being taken for a good thrash on some real roads and not just the track.

Rickpw1

9 posts

142 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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The Pits said:
'PDK is almost seamless' that's true up to the mid-range but not true near the redline is it? Unlike, say, the Nissan GTR gearshift for example, which remains seamless right to the limiter. PDK changes gear with a jolt at high revs which was a big surprise after all I had read. Ah sure, just splitting hairs? If it's not seamless it's no longer an option to shift up mid corner at speed (like you can in a GTR) therefore taking away one of the real advantages of a good DCT over a manual.
I was told on a Porsche day at Silverstone to never change gear mid-corner if it can be avoided, brake on the straight and when approaching a bend ensure you prepare by selecting a gear which will allow you to accelerate out.

matsoc

853 posts

131 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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I am not totally 100% convinced by the 991 GT3 but I think it is still one of greatest and most capable sports cars out there. While I owned some 911s I only drove, albeit several times, various iterations of the GT3. I felt the gap between regular 991s and 991 GT3 very consistent but somehow it felt more a much better car than a very different car. It can also be a plus point, it is more logical in a way, but...

garypotter

1,483 posts

149 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
The Pits said:
Not so much as a syllable about the electric steering!

You need to go back there with a 997 and do a back to back comparison or don't Porsche allow that in their advertorials these days?

I'm still waiting to read any meaningful criticism about a car that is rear engined, auto only, heavier than its predecessor and with electric 4-wheel steering. Even Dan's whole 'scary at Silverstone' article had a positive spin on it - i.e. don't worry folks it's still scary, it hasn't been sanitised, like it's a good thing.

My experience of the car is very different to what I have read and no I didn't fall 'hopelessly in love'.

'PDK is almost seamless' that's true up to the mid-range but not true near the redline is it? Unlike, say, the Nissan GTR gearshift for example, which remains seamless right to the limiter. PDK changes gear with a jolt at high revs which was a big surprise after all I had read. Ah sure, just splitting hairs? If it's not seamless it's no longer an option to shift up mid corner at speed (like you can in a GTR) therefore taking away one of the real advantages of a good DCT over a manual.

It's a great car the new GT3 but no car is beyond criticism.

Looks like we will have to wait until the RS comes out before we read about the GT3's shortcomings, as per usual!
Good comments but if Porsche chucked me the keys to a £115k car I would like, never buy one.

LindsayMac

569 posts

201 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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I noted the cracked windscreen on the passengers side on one of the video clips........interesting as mine did the same within 50 miles of pick up from new. To be fair I nearly jumped out of my skin with the bang the (whatever if was) struck the car on the M6, heading to back to the land with the "proper" roads.

Edited by LindsayMac on Tuesday 27th January 18:31

Dan Trent

1,866 posts

167 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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LindsayMac said:
I noted the cracked windscreen on the passengers side on one of the video clips........interesting as mine did the same within 50 miles of pick up from new. To be fair I nearly jumped out of my skin with the bang the (whatever if was) struck the car on the M6, heading to back to the land with the "proper" roads.

Edited by LindsayMac on Tuesday 27th January 18:31
Interesting to hear; we first saw it as a small chip picked up at Silverstone (didn't notice anything but then concentration was rather focused on not crashing!) and it steadily got bigger. I've heard of others too, which is curious...

Cheers,

DAn

Gorbyrev

1,160 posts

153 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Dan Trent said:
LindsayMac said:
I noted the cracked windscreen on the passengers side on one of the video clips........interesting as mine did the same within 50 miles of pick up from new. To be fair I nearly jumped out of my skin with the bang the (whatever if was) struck the car on the M6, heading to back to the land with the "proper" roads.

Edited by LindsayMac on Tuesday 27th January 18:31
Interesting to hear; we first saw it as a small chip picked up at Silverstone (didn't notice anything but then concentration was rather focused on not crashing!) and it steadily got bigger. I've heard of others too, which is curious...

Cheers,

DAn
Thinner glass?

Jim909

207 posts

130 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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chrisironside said:
I love this car!!!

I see a lot of nice cars in Aberdeen (plenty of Astons and R8s often Ferraris, in the past few months have also seen a couple of Aventadors, a Veyron and a P1) but I can't think of much that I envy as much as the red 991 GT3 I pass to/from work each day.

cloud9
I also pass this every day and also feel the same, I saw the chap out cleaning it the other day, literally shouted "lucky bar steward"

Harris_I

3,225 posts

258 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Rickpw1 said:
I was told on a Porsche day at Silverstone to never change gear mid-corner if it can be avoided, brake on the straight and when approaching a bend ensure you prepare by selecting a gear which will allow you to accelerate out.
In order to make it alive to the end of his shift, the instructor makes the reasonable assumption that each punter does not already compete in Porsche Supercup. Otherwise he would tell you to trail the car into the apex whilst heel and toeing.

The 991 takes half the effort away by blipping on the down change to avoid lock up and the other half by encouraging rotation through 4WS. Nice. But not for everyone.


V8 FOU

2,970 posts

146 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Sorry, no.
Bring back Chris Harris for better video / driving / commentry.

robm3

4,927 posts

226 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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b14 said:
Mark Benson said:
s m said:
Nice write-up Troy!
Indeed, what's he been smoking?

Queef said:
The slow crawl up the Ogmore Valley takes an age, but eventually there's the sound of Pilot Sport Cup 2s on cattle grid that pre-empts the looming cliffs of the Bwlch. I snap the gear selector across the gate, depress the PDK Sport button, twitch my left fingers a couple of times until '2' registers on the dash, and push on the floor-hinged pedal. At three and a half the bass drops, followed at around six by the brass section laying a sharp, metallic wail over the top. And then, at eight and a half, all hell breaks loose and a violent, shrieking, symphony shatters every molecule of air in the valley. It bounces off the sheer walls and swirls around the amphitheatre so that it almost feels like driving into my own wall of sound. Forget Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and Katherine Jenkins; for today the valleys will be home to a whole new voice.
No. Just, no.
+1. A tour of the helmsman's partsbin of cliches.
A new... "Dartmoor was angry that day..."

Cheib

23,113 posts

174 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
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Brilliant car.

st video....really st. Yes the car sounds good but it's hard to see it when you shoot into the sun and you aren't doing basic things like using a fking tripod.

Pelo

542 posts

272 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
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I thought the article was quite enjoyable!
The video isn't great, but compared to most of the clips on the PH YouTube channel, it's a master piece hehe

991 how do you sound so good?!

turbo-ww

1,766 posts

215 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
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Harris_I said:
Rickpw1 said:
I was told on a Porsche day at Silverstone to never change gear mid-corner if it can be avoided, brake on the straight and when approaching a bend ensure you prepare by selecting a gear which will allow you to accelerate out.
In order to make it alive to the end of his shift, the instructor makes the reasonable assumption that each punter does not already compete in Porsche Supercup. Otherwise he would tell you to trail the car into the apex whilst heel and toeing

The 991 takes half the effort away by blipping on the down change to avoid lock up and the other half by encouraging rotation through 4WS. Nice. But not for everyone.
Do you still heel and toe in a PDK??




Harris_I

3,225 posts

258 months

Wednesday 28th January 2015
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turbo-ww said:
Do you still heel and toe in a PDK??
I assume that's sarcasm, though it's hard to tell. Obviously I am talking about a manual. The point was that instructors only tell people stuff that keeps them alive and able to come back to work the next day. Their job is to show the punter a good time and have him come back for more and tell his mates what a great time he had. Not to turn punters into race drivers.

Also, 100% agree with The Pits. I'm (was) a lifelong Porsche fanatic (but not any more sadly). I'm watching with detached amusement the mutual masturbation session that is the 991 GT3 thread over on the Porsche forum. Some publications are also guilty of this uncritical thinking.