997 GT2

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Discussion

Tony 1234

Original Poster:

3,465 posts

227 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Were many imported because they do seem a bit of a bargain compared to the RS version and I wondered why if restricted numbers the value isn't greater?

Alpinestars

13,954 posts

244 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Only c50 in the UK. And I'm guessing c10-15 in CS spec.

goldsbd

134 posts

205 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Like a fine wine they have yet to mature, they are faster than almost all other Porsches and brutal in their nature, most drivers appear not to be able to handle them and prefer the GT3 noise although this can easily be fixed, it. doesn't matter to me as noise is the last thing you are concentrating on when under wide open throttle.

A GT2 RS is not £80k more car, and a 997 GT2 is plenty enough car for most people, its got a GT3 RS chassis, is faster, more comfortable and more usable on the road. It's also super rare and not just UK RHD cars, but only around 1200 world wide, oh and a simple remap will see RS levels of power, I've owned a couple of 964 Turbos, including one of the last ever made, I love the 993 Turbo, both of those are great road cars, but let's be clear they are not in the same league as one of these.

It's faster round most tracks but certainly needs road to stretch its legs. Mine will never be used on track and I prefer Sports Adaptive heated seats that offer plenty of support, even when under a lot of lateral load, I don't get the obsession of buckets on a road car with scaffolding in the back, but everyone to their own.

My understanding is that a lot are now ending up in collections and there are less GT2s come up for sale than RS models, others are being exported to the other side of the world and being wrapped in Chrome and tuned to 1200BHP.

I've only seen a couple of decent ones for sale in the last 2 years, and they very very rarely come up, the none messed about ones appear to sell very quickly also.

Mines a very long term keeper, is only a one previous owner car (5 years) and is irreplaceable as far as I'm concerned, and it's fed and serviced beyond what is required to keep it as close to new as is possible whilst still actually driving it when I get chance.

Basically there are a lot of people who own a GT3 and endlessly talk about them so they get more chat and forum attention, there are also a lot more up for sale at any one time.

These are fabulous cars, underrated, but one thing I'm sure about is the future values of these due to rarity and exclusivity, never mind the incredible performance will be strong.... Those who have these cars know what they really are!

Alpinestars

13,954 posts

244 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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The 3 is still a better car though.

goldsbd

134 posts

205 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Define better..., better at what?

Is it faster?.. Err... No!
Does it have more BHP... Err No!
Does it have more torque... Err No!
Is it faster round most tracks.. Err No!
Does it have wider tires.. err No!
Does it have a seam welded chassis to handle the extra power, errr, don't think it has, but happy to be corrected.
Does it have fully adjustable suspension, err yes, both do!
Does it have Twin Turbos with as makes no difference no turbo lag.. Erm yes
Does it have a higher redline... No! But then a Honda S2000 has a 9,000rpm redline and it's not faster either
Is it more exclusive and rare.. err No!

It's taken 6 years of development just for a new 991 GT3 version to take a couple of seconds off the ring time with its fancy auto box along with rear steering, bigger track and everything else, so the 997 GT3 has no chance.

So it's definitely better then... Mmmm.... Are you sure about that! Its Subjective! And each to their own! biggrin

Edited by goldsbd on Tuesday 26th August 20:59

Alpinestars

13,954 posts

244 months

Tuesday 26th August 2014
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Of course it's subjective. A 3 is not faster (in a straight line), but it's more involving, more delicate, better steering, better damping, better noise, better handling. Overall it's a more enjoyable car to drive. The 2 is not shabby, but the 3 is definitely better (IMO).

mr sagman

1,718 posts

236 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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Better is a very subjective word.. Especially when comparing a £90K + car to a £120K plus car.. Porsche built the Gt2 and GT3 for different purposes.. They certainly don't build one bad and one good.. They are both fantastic, My preference would be the GT3 without a doubt but the GT2 would also be on the lottery list.. (Just wish it sounded a bit better).

996GT2

2,649 posts

210 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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Alpinestars said:
Of course it's subjective. A 3 is not faster (in a straight line), but it's more involving, more delicate, better steering, better damping, better noise, better handling. Overall it's a more enjoyable car to drive. The 2 is not shabby, but the 3 is definitely better (IMO).
The straight line speed is the only thing in that list that isn't subjective, and the GT2 wins that one, so it's objectively the better car. IMO of course smile


IMI A

9,410 posts

201 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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goldsbd said:
Define better..., better at what?

Is it faster?.. Err... No!
Does it have more BHP... Err No!
Does it have more torque... Err No!
Is it faster round most tracks.. Err No!
Does it have wider tires.. err No!
Does it have a seam welded chassis to handle the extra power, errr, don't think it has, but happy to be corrected.
Does it have fully adjustable suspension, err yes, both do!
Does it have Twin Turbos with as makes no difference no turbo lag.. Erm yes
Does it have a higher redline... No! But then a Honda S2000 has a 9,000rpm redline and it's not faster either
Is it more exclusive and rare.. err No!

It's taken 6 years of development just for a new 991 GT3 version to take a couple of seconds off the ring time with its fancy auto box along with rear steering, bigger track and everything else, so the 997 GT3 has no chance.

So it's definitely better then... Mmmm.... Are you sure about that! Its Subjective! And each to their own! biggrin

Edited by goldsbd on Tuesday 26th August 20:59
I'm looking for a nice GT2 but am the first to say for track work its power delivery has torque spikes which can make it quite difficult to drive in terms of throttle modulation hence the car doesn't flow round a track as well as a GT3. Not as pure as the GT3 either hence the purist will always plump for the GT3. Depends on the track but I think on a power circuit a 991 GT3 might struggle to keep touch with a well driven lightly fettled 997 GT2. Each to their own but it would be a GT2 for me as I'd use it on the road where torque is everything IMO.

F40GT346

211 posts

167 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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A couple of years ago Porsche ran a GT experience at Silverstone where we got to drive a GT3RS 3.8, a GT3RS 4 Litre and a GT2RS on their performance centre track. I have a 997.1 GT3 so have a lot of experience of this car on road and track.

We got 30 mins in each car back to back and so it really highlighted the differences between the 3 cars. In terms of chassis they are all very similar - you could feel subtle changes as they had been refined and actually the best weighted steering and gear change was in the 4 litre, and the GT2 RS felt better than the 3.8 - particularly the gear change weighting.

So the biggest difference was therefore engine and this was very interesting. Since the GT2RS has a lower rev limit the gearing is longer and so actually it does not feel dramatically faster than the 3 - although this was within the confines of the Porsche track which is pretty tight and twisty. I am sure once in to the higher gears it would have felt all of its 600hp. The other major difference was the feeling of control when getting on the throttle in the corners. With the GT2 I found I had to wait until I was virtually out of the corner before getting on to the throttle, whereas in the GT3 I could get in to the throttle much earlier with more control of the rear end of the car. In the end the combination of being able to hold on to the gears longer and getting in to the throttle earlier made up for the lower power but also gave a more satisfying driving experience.

Out of the group that I went with we all thought the 4 litre was the best car - the best balance of power and grip with the best feeling through the controls. We also agreed that it was only a small amount better subjectively than the 3.8 GT3.

The GT2RS I saw as more of a challenge, going fast in a straight line is not that interesting really, and using the power of the GT2 in the corners was definitely a challenge which I sort of enjoyed - but the slightly elastic feeling throttle response and the way it wanted to spin up the rears made it feel more like an exercise in faith rather than control.

There is a tendency to assume that more power equals a better car. However the reason I think the GT3 is so good is that is has enough power to feel quick, but you can savour holding on to each gear for longer, enjoying the sound as it approaches the 8500 rev limit and its the balance of power to grip and the way you control this balance that to me feels spot on.

So I probably am biased as I have a GT3 and if I could only have one (reality) I would stick with the GT3. If I could have both then I definitely would and would use it occasionally at places like Spa and Silverstone GP where the extra power og the GT2 could really be used.


Mario149

7,754 posts

178 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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F40GT346 said:
A couple of years ago Porsche ran a GT experience at Silverstone where we got to drive a GT3RS 3.8, a GT3RS 4 Litre and a GT2RS on their performance centre track. I have a 997.1 GT3 so have a lot of experience of this car on road and track.

We got 30 mins in each car back to back and so it really highlighted the differences between the 3 cars. In terms of chassis they are all very similar - you could feel subtle changes as they had been refined and actually the best weighted steering and gear change was in the 4 litre, and the GT2 RS felt better than the 3.8 - particularly the gear change weighting.

So the biggest difference was therefore engine and this was very interesting. Since the GT2RS has a lower rev limit the gearing is longer and so actually it does not feel dramatically faster than the 3 - although this was within the confines of the Porsche track which is pretty tight and twisty. I am sure once in to the higher gears it would have felt all of its 600hp. The other major difference was the feeling of control when getting on the throttle in the corners. With the GT2 I found I had to wait until I was virtually out of the corner before getting on to the throttle, whereas in the GT3 I could get in to the throttle much earlier with more control of the rear end of the car. In the end the combination of being able to hold on to the gears longer and getting in to the throttle earlier made up for the lower power but also gave a more satisfying driving experience.

Out of the group that I went with we all thought the 4 litre was the best car - the best balance of power and grip with the best feeling through the controls. We also agreed that it was only a small amount better subjectively than the 3.8 GT3.

The GT2RS I saw as more of a challenge, going fast in a straight line is not that interesting really, and using the power of the GT2 in the corners was definitely a challenge which I sort of enjoyed - but the slightly elastic feeling throttle response and the way it wanted to spin up the rears made it feel more like an exercise in faith rather than control.

There is a tendency to assume that more power equals a better car. However the reason I think the GT3 is so good is that is has enough power to feel quick, but you can savour holding on to each gear for longer, enjoying the sound as it approaches the 8500 rev limit and its the balance of power to grip and the way you control this balance that to me feels spot on.

So I probably am biased as I have a GT3 and if I could only have one (reality) I would stick with the GT3. If I could have both then I definitely would and would use it occasionally at places like Spa and Silverstone GP where the extra power og the GT2 could really be used.
Interesting post smile

I've just got myself a 7.1 GT3, only done about 150 miles in it so far and looking forward to going on track. My initial impressions are that it's fantastically capable but that the gearing is a little long for the road (80mph+ in second), do you find this? If the GT2 is even longer geared I imagine I'd personally find it a bit frustrating anywhere but on a track!

Alpinestars

13,954 posts

244 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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Mario149 said:
Interesting post smile

I've just got myself a 7.1 GT3, only done about 150 miles in it so far and looking forward to going on track. My initial impressions are that it's fantastically capable but that the gearing is a little long for the road (80mph+ in second), do you find this? If the GT2 is even longer geared I imagine I'd personally find it a bit frustrating anywhere but on a track!
From memory you get to around 80 in second. It never feels long geared because of the high torque. It also only revs to around 6800, compared to 8200 ish for the GT3.

F40GT346

211 posts

167 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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Mario149 said:
Interesting post smile

I've just got myself a 7.1 GT3, only done about 150 miles in it so far and looking forward to going on track. My initial impressions are that it's fantastically capable but that the gearing is a little long for the road (80mph+ in second), do you find this? If the GT2 is even longer geared I imagine I'd personally find it a bit frustrating anywhere but on a track!
I personally think the gearing is fine, as long as you bend the speed limits. You can fit a cup final drive which shortens the gearing improving acceleration etc, however, I find the standard gearing a good compromise for cruising on motorways vs track day blasts so have stuck with standard.

Coming back to the GT2, I would expect the opportunities to use full throttle on public roads would be few and far between outside of a German autobahn.

TB993tt

2,032 posts

241 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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F40GT346 said:
Coming back to the GT2, I would expect the opportunities to use full throttle on public roads would be few and far between outside of a German autobahn.
Opportunities for using full throttle and maximum revs on a GT3 on public roads are few and far between because they are so slowwww, takes so much distance to wind round to 8400rpm, a GT2 (particularly with simple chip and zorst) can squirt up and back down again to big leptons before anyone notices, it is the ultimate thrill ride for public roads.

keep it lit

3,388 posts

167 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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TB993tt said:
Opportunities for using full throttle and maximum revs on a GT3 on public roads are few and far between because they are so slowwww, takes so much distance to wind round to 8400rpm, a GT2 (particularly with simple chip and zorst) can squirt up and back down again to big leptons before anyone notices, it is the ultimate thrill ride for public roads.
nah.... I know a silver n/a 3.9 GT that will climb up Ashton Old Road from top to bottom a lot quicker than your similar blown variant smile

TB993tt

2,032 posts

241 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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keep it lit said:
nah.... I know a silver n/a 3.9 GT that will climb up Ashton Old Road from top to bottom a lot quicker than your similar blown variant smile
Never in a 30 limit, plenty of other opportunities en route wink

Chav but hehe


keep it lit

3,388 posts

167 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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I think I know your route... wink

F40GT346

211 posts

167 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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TB993tt said:
Opportunities for using full throttle and maximum revs on a GT3 on public roads are few and far between because they are so slowwww, takes so much distance to wind round to 8400rpm, a GT2 (particularly with simple chip and zorst) can squirt up and back down again to big leptons before anyone notices, it is the ultimate thrill ride for public roads.
Well speed limits are only rough guidance anyway aren't they?

goldsbd

134 posts

205 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
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In terms of gearing, to be honest I have no idea what it does in each gear, I never have time to look under WOT, I do know that I concentrate really hard as the horizon is pulled over my face and I get about 1.5 to 2 seconds between one gear and the next, it burns through the revs and gears so quickly that you don’t have much time to think, I don’t think the gearing is long either but perfectly suited to the engine output ranges.

It almost doesn’t matter what gear you are or what speed you are going, the engine produces so much torque in almost any gear at any speed that nothing will touch it. Even in 5/6th at 60mph it will pull hard, it not like flooring a NA car at 3000 revs and then waiting an eternity for the revs to rise (much more slowly than Turbo’s spinning up) enough for it to get going, ie no torque, providing its doing about 2,000rpm there enough flexibility in the engine to pass almost anything on the road.
Changing gear usually means that the terminal velocity passing anything can quickly and easily reach 120 leptons+ in no time.

I’ve had and driven a lot of NA cars and they just tend to feel gutless at lower revs and you have to drive the revs rather than the torque which gets a bit tiring at times.

I also think that 30 mins in a car on a Porsche GT Day to adjust to driving it is sort of giving in, ie. “I can’t master it immediately, I’m therefore not the driving God I thought I was so I’ll go back to driving something that’s easier and slower to drive with power I can actually deal with” and then blame the car, because it must be the cars fault!

I’ve owned this car for about 20 months now and I’m still learning to drive it, and will be for years to come, it’s a brilliant challenge to have, but I also find the power delivery easy to deal with, even coming out of bends! It’s about knowing exactly how / when it will come on and it takes more than 30 mins to master.

I do love the sound of the 3 though!

F40GT346

211 posts

167 months

Wednesday 27th August 2014
quotequote all
goldsbd said:
In terms of gearing, to be honest I have no idea what it does in each gear, I never have time to look under WOT, I do know that I concentrate really hard as the horizon is pulled over my face and I get about 1.5 to 2 seconds between one gear and the next, it burns through the revs and gears so quickly that you don’t have much time to think, I don’t think the gearing is long either but perfectly suited to the engine output ranges.

It almost doesn’t matter what gear you are or what speed you are going, the engine produces so much torque in almost any gear at any speed that nothing will touch it. Even in 5/6th at 60mph it will pull hard, it not like flooring a NA car at 3000 revs and then waiting an eternity for the revs to rise (much more slowly than Turbo’s spinning up) enough for it to get going, ie no torque, providing its doing about 2,000rpm there enough flexibility in the engine to pass almost anything on the road.
Changing gear usually means that the terminal velocity passing anything can quickly and easily reach 120 leptons+ in no time.

I’ve had and driven a lot of NA cars and they just tend to feel gutless at lower revs and you have to drive the revs rather than the torque which gets a bit tiring at times.

I also think that 30 mins in a car on a Porsche GT Day to adjust to driving it is sort of giving in, ie. “I can’t master it immediately, I’m therefore not the driving God I thought I was so I’ll go back to driving something that’s easier and slower to drive with power I can actually deal with” and then blame the car, because it must be the cars fault!

I’ve owned this car for about 20 months now and I’m still learning to drive it, and will be for years to come, it’s a brilliant challenge to have, but I also find the power delivery easy to deal with, even coming out of bends! It’s about knowing exactly how / when it will come on and it takes more than 30 mins to master.

I do love the sound of the 3 though!
I agree that 30 mins is not enough to master a car, but 30 mins back to back in all three cars was a great way to highlight the differences in their characteristics, which was the point I was making above. The GT2RS was the easier car to drift of the three due to the torque. At least we have the choice! For me the best was the 4.0 litre, but they are just a bit out of my price range.

The Porsche GT day was £550 around 2 years ago when the 4.0 litre came out - awesome value given the cars we got to drive, and the co-pilots were happy for us to drive them as hard as we liked.