Picked up my 997.1 GT3 the other day :)
Discussion
Done about 150 miles in it, at least some of which were on some fun roads luckily. To some up initial impressions in a sentence: It feels like a rocket powered-go kart with just enough creature comforts and luxury to make it a daily usable (IMHO super) car - which is the highest praise for it that I can think of. Reality has definitely matched and then romped on past expectations 
A few thoughts that stand out in my head so far:
1) I know they're reasonably light cars, but the engine feels one hell of a lot stronger than 409bhp. If you told me it had 450bhp, I'd think that was about on the money. In reality they're far, far to fast for the road. Severely illegal speeds come up in what feels like fractions of a second every time you give it the loud pedal, which you want to do all the time as it is so much fun above 5k rpm. How anyone can drive a 4.0 or a 991 GT3 remotely legally without confining themselves to just tickling the throttle is beyond me
2) Notwithstanding (1), the gearing feels too long for real fun on the road (maybe not unsurprisingly!) - I think you can see 80mph in 2nd, it would be nice if it didn't stretch quite that far so you could rev out a bit more in 3rd. Performance would then feel even more ballistic and you'd stand a chance of keeping your licence if the law caught you doing it. I've already resigned myself to the fact I'm going to get points with this car.
3) Bucket seats - to be fair, I have the widest shoulders and chest of anyone I know even when I'm not a bit portly after extended holidays, and I *only just* fit in the seat at the bottom and really am a tad to wide at the top. They're great, but def an incentive to start running again now we're home An inch off top and bottom will go a long way
4) You know how when you're driving a 2 stroke kart and you can slide it around but it feels totally safe and satisfying as you can feel exactly what it going on? The GT3 feels like its bigger brother, hence my rocket powered go kart comparison above. Normally in a 911, when the back starts moving for me, it's fun, but also a little scary. In the GT3 it is not it seems. You can feel so much of what is going on that on the few times the back has moved a bit under power unexpectedly, it's been totally fine. I probably have the psychological bonus knowing that even in Sport the TC will intervene should it go terribly wrong, but even without I still think I would drive it the same way.
5) the noise it makes is brilliant at almost all times. For the first time, I'm not feeling any need for a sports exhaust upgrade. If I'm going to be pedantic, I'll say it sounds a little contrived and "farty" in sports mode when the valve opens at up to 2k rpm and again generally at 3.5k or so, but that's really picking holes from the tiniest of loose threads.
Anyway, can't wait to get it on track where I daresay it will flatter even someone like me going at 8/10ths, and I can get the engine to really start singing in 3rd and 4th.
As a final thought, I think I can see why the 996.1 GT3s are so popular. 360bhp in a similar charactered engine with the same sort of handling strikes me as possibly the perfect sweet spot for road driving with less risk of going to jail etc. Would like to try one one day!
A few pics to follow....
A few thoughts that stand out in my head so far:1) I know they're reasonably light cars, but the engine feels one hell of a lot stronger than 409bhp. If you told me it had 450bhp, I'd think that was about on the money. In reality they're far, far to fast for the road. Severely illegal speeds come up in what feels like fractions of a second every time you give it the loud pedal, which you want to do all the time as it is so much fun above 5k rpm. How anyone can drive a 4.0 or a 991 GT3 remotely legally without confining themselves to just tickling the throttle is beyond me
2) Notwithstanding (1), the gearing feels too long for real fun on the road (maybe not unsurprisingly!) - I think you can see 80mph in 2nd, it would be nice if it didn't stretch quite that far so you could rev out a bit more in 3rd. Performance would then feel even more ballistic and you'd stand a chance of keeping your licence if the law caught you doing it. I've already resigned myself to the fact I'm going to get points with this car.
3) Bucket seats - to be fair, I have the widest shoulders and chest of anyone I know even when I'm not a bit portly after extended holidays, and I *only just* fit in the seat at the bottom and really am a tad to wide at the top. They're great, but def an incentive to start running again now we're home
An inch off top and bottom will go a long way4) You know how when you're driving a 2 stroke kart and you can slide it around but it feels totally safe and satisfying as you can feel exactly what it going on? The GT3 feels like its bigger brother, hence my rocket powered go kart comparison above. Normally in a 911, when the back starts moving for me, it's fun, but also a little scary. In the GT3 it is not it seems. You can feel so much of what is going on that on the few times the back has moved a bit under power unexpectedly, it's been totally fine. I probably have the psychological bonus knowing that even in Sport the TC will intervene should it go terribly wrong, but even without I still think I would drive it the same way.
5) the noise it makes is brilliant at almost all times. For the first time, I'm not feeling any need for a sports exhaust upgrade. If I'm going to be pedantic, I'll say it sounds a little contrived and "farty" in sports mode when the valve opens at up to 2k rpm and again generally at 3.5k or so, but that's really picking holes from the tiniest of loose threads.
Anyway, can't wait to get it on track where I daresay it will flatter even someone like me going at 8/10ths, and I can get the engine to really start singing in 3rd and 4th.
As a final thought, I think I can see why the 996.1 GT3s are so popular. 360bhp in a similar charactered engine with the same sort of handling strikes me as possibly the perfect sweet spot for road driving with less risk of going to jail etc. Would like to try one one day!
A few pics to follow....
Mario149 said:
Done about 150 miles in it, at least some of which were on some fun roads luckily. To some up initial impressions in a sentence: It feels like a rocket powered-go kart with just enough creature comforts and luxury to make it a daily usable (IMHO super) car - which is the highest praise for it that I can think of. Reality has definitely matched and then romped on past expectations A few thoughts that stand out in my head so far:
1) I know they're reasonably light cars, but the engine feels one hell of a lot stronger than 409bhp. If you told me it had 450bhp, I'd think that was about on the money. In reality they're far, far to fast for the road. Severely illegal speeds come up in what feels like fractions of a second every time you give it the loud pedal, which you want to do all the time as it is so much fun above 5k rpm. How anyone can drive a 4.0 or a 991 GT3 remotely legally without confining themselves to just tickling the throttle is beyond me
2) Notwithstanding (1), the gearing feels too long for real fun on the road (maybe not unsurprisingly!) - I think you can see 80mph in 2nd, it would be nice if it didn't stretch quite that far so you could rev out a bit more in 3rd. Performance would then feel even more ballistic and you'd stand a chance of keeping your licence if the law caught you doing it. I've already resigned myself to the fact I'm going to get points with this car.
3) Bucket seats - to be fair, I have the widest shoulders and chest of anyone I know even when I'm not a bit portly after extended holidays, and I *only just* fit in the seat at the bottom and really am a tad to wide at the top. They're great, but def an incentive to start running again now we're home An inch off top and bottom will go a long way
4) You know how when you're driving a 2 stroke kart and you can slide it around but it feels totally safe and satisfying as you can feel exactly what it going on? The GT3 feels like its bigger brother, hence my rocket powered go kart comparison above. Normally in a 911, when the back starts moving for me, it's fun, but also a little scary. In the GT3 it is not it seems. You can feel so much of what is going on that on the few times the back has moved a bit under power unexpectedly, it's been totally fine. I probably have the psychological bonus knowing that even in Sport the TC will intervene should it go terribly wrong, but even without I still think I would drive it the same way.
5) the noise it makes is brilliant at almost all times. For the first time, I'm not feeling any need for a sports exhaust upgrade. If I'm going to be pedantic, I'll say it sounds a little contrived and "farty" in sports mode when the valve opens at up to 2k rpm and again generally at 3.5k or so, but that's really picking holes from the tiniest of loose threads.
Anyway, can't wait to get it on track where I daresay it will flatter even someone like me going at 8/10ths, and I can get the engine to really start singing in 3rd and 4th.
As a final thought, I think I can see why the 996.1 GT3s are so popular. 360bhp in a similar charactered engine with the same sort of handling strikes me as possibly the perfect sweet spot for road driving with less risk of going to jail etc. Would like to try one one day!
A few pics to follow....
Congratulations and welcome to the club A few thoughts that stand out in my head so far:1) I know they're reasonably light cars, but the engine feels one hell of a lot stronger than 409bhp. If you told me it had 450bhp, I'd think that was about on the money. In reality they're far, far to fast for the road. Severely illegal speeds come up in what feels like fractions of a second every time you give it the loud pedal, which you want to do all the time as it is so much fun above 5k rpm. How anyone can drive a 4.0 or a 991 GT3 remotely legally without confining themselves to just tickling the throttle is beyond me
2) Notwithstanding (1), the gearing feels too long for real fun on the road (maybe not unsurprisingly!) - I think you can see 80mph in 2nd, it would be nice if it didn't stretch quite that far so you could rev out a bit more in 3rd. Performance would then feel even more ballistic and you'd stand a chance of keeping your licence if the law caught you doing it. I've already resigned myself to the fact I'm going to get points with this car.
3) Bucket seats - to be fair, I have the widest shoulders and chest of anyone I know even when I'm not a bit portly after extended holidays, and I *only just* fit in the seat at the bottom and really am a tad to wide at the top. They're great, but def an incentive to start running again now we're home
An inch off top and bottom will go a long way4) You know how when you're driving a 2 stroke kart and you can slide it around but it feels totally safe and satisfying as you can feel exactly what it going on? The GT3 feels like its bigger brother, hence my rocket powered go kart comparison above. Normally in a 911, when the back starts moving for me, it's fun, but also a little scary. In the GT3 it is not it seems. You can feel so much of what is going on that on the few times the back has moved a bit under power unexpectedly, it's been totally fine. I probably have the psychological bonus knowing that even in Sport the TC will intervene should it go terribly wrong, but even without I still think I would drive it the same way.
5) the noise it makes is brilliant at almost all times. For the first time, I'm not feeling any need for a sports exhaust upgrade. If I'm going to be pedantic, I'll say it sounds a little contrived and "farty" in sports mode when the valve opens at up to 2k rpm and again generally at 3.5k or so, but that's really picking holes from the tiniest of loose threads.
Anyway, can't wait to get it on track where I daresay it will flatter even someone like me going at 8/10ths, and I can get the engine to really start singing in 3rd and 4th.
As a final thought, I think I can see why the 996.1 GT3s are so popular. 360bhp in a similar charactered engine with the same sort of handling strikes me as possibly the perfect sweet spot for road driving with less risk of going to jail etc. Would like to try one one day!
A few pics to follow....
Car looks lovely mate
Looks great, if you really want to get to know the car have a look on here and book something up...
http://www.petrolheadnirvana.com
I've just done tha Alpine Assualt.
I'm going again next year....
http://www.petrolheadnirvana.com
I've just done tha Alpine Assualt.
I'm going again next year....
pete a said:
Looks great, if you really want to get to know the car have a look on here and book something up...
http://www.petrolheadnirvana.com
I've just done tha Alpine Assualt.
I'm going again next year....
I've been out with Pete and Bachi a couple of times before, like you say v good http://www.petrolheadnirvana.com
I've just done tha Alpine Assualt.
I'm going again next year....
Last one was Norway in the 550 desperately want to go back at some point! In the meantime, my mate has organised a Wales trip for 2 weeks time which should be awesome!Gassing Station | 911/Carrera GT | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff