911 and Porsche world GT3 review

[gunner]

Mark Hales reviews it this month and doesn't seem to love it.He clearly respects the technology enormously and appreciates that it's a more comfortable road car and therefore a more rounded effort in general vs its predecessors,but he doesn't seem to really connect with it emotionally if that makes sense.lots of driver aids clearly...still didn't stop 3 journalists smashing cars during the event.

[gunner]

good point.beats the 'whatever's newest is therefore the best' approach most reviewers seem to take.

[gunner]

Well,wider appeal or not,a well informed little birdie tells me that Porsche UK are not exactly awash with 10k deposits for 997GT3'S...

[gunner]

I was given several reasons for why initial demand has been weak (and of course this may be rubbish,but the guy who told me should know) the main one being the 10k deposit which understandably puts people off especially if they're not being given a definite build slot even on paying the deposit.Other factors include the fact that with previous GT3/RS values having come under pressure the price to change at,say,25-30k, is somewhat prohibitive,not to mention that with the 997GT3RS in the offing there are inevitably concerns around 997GT3 residuals despite claims of more limited production etc.
I was also told that the GT3 being released almost simultaneously with the turbo has done demand no favours.As is clear from other posts on this forum,there are many who will choose between the two,especially with the GT3 now supposedly so much more road friendly,but ultimately the turbo of course
tends to be a much more popular choice.I would have anticipated entirely different types of customer for both cars but supposedly there is actually a fair bit of overlap.
Finally it does seem that GT3 production for this calendar year will indeed be very limited,with the vast majority of cars coming onstream in early 07 and beyond.