GT4 RS/ Spyder RS Experiences, Driving and Technical

[LiamH66]

ChrisW. said:

Yes the white GT3RS ...

I did get blue flagged a few times whilst I was building up my tyre temperatures ... in the concurrent corners it's always a challenge when you see a blue flag but can't see a car in your rear view ... and then there is more than one playing fast !!

The best I saw was 1.3g on right hand corners and 1.25g on left ... it always feels to me that quite a lot of the Anglesey corners are negative camber ... but maybe that's also where my standard suspension shows its limitations .. !!

Anyway, I'm changing to my lightly used PS4S for Spa at the end of this month ... it's a long time since I was there Then they are on for the winter ...

Not sure why I thought it might be you in that one Chris, but I did. Can't actually remember whether you overtook me or vice versa, but I think we were circulating on the same part of the track in at least one of the early sessions. I had guessed we were both pacing the tyre temperature build up in sensible mode.

One of the 992 GT3 RS's was very much "on it" from first thing, and having fun through the traffic. And then of course there was Tim Harvey giving passenger "hot laps" in the RPM Technik prepped 992 RS. I don't think the marshalls had time to get the blue flags into their hands before he was on me and got around me, perfectly safely and without giving slightest cause for concern.

Chris, were your lateral accelerations recorded with the Precision app, or do you have some other form of logging? I'm still using Precision occasionally (but wasn't at Anglesey), and really do need to get back to it, as it seems to have some pretty powerful logging capability nowadays. For various reasons I know I've been driving quite poorly since I got the GT4 RS last year. But as ever, it's coming back together as I learn to drive the car, and get it better suited to my expectations with tweaks. Might be time to horrify myself with a few graphical representations of my ineptitude.

[JeffC]

just do it and turn the wireless up !

lotusgeek said:

I'm thinking about SRS to replace my 718 GT4. Has anyone driven both and can you share your experience of the noise inside the cabin of the SRS. Not the induction noise, but the general road noise etc with it being a thin fabric roof?

I mostly use my car to drive to the Alps for a week each year and it's a 600 mile motorway drive to get there. This is my concern with the general noise etc. The GT4 is not exactly peaceful, but it's acceptable for the experience. The SRS would be sensational I'm sure, but there is no chance to drive one before committing where I live.

Thanks

[elisered]

lotusgeek said:

I'm thinking about SRS to replace my 718 GT4. Has anyone driven both and can you share your experience of the noise inside the cabin of the SRS. Not the induction noise, but the general road noise etc with it being a thin fabric roof?

I mostly use my car to drive to the Alps for a week each year and it's a 600 mile motorway drive to get there. This is my concern with the general noise etc. The GT4 is not exactly peaceful, but it's acceptable for the experience. The SRS would be sensational I'm sure, but there is no chance to drive one before committing where I live.

Thanks

Genuinely don’t think you’ll find road noise an issue at cruising speed - to me it seems no different to it’s predecessor 981 Spyder.

[ChrisW.]

LiamH66 said:

ChrisW. said:

Yes the white GT3RS ...

I did get blue flagged a few times whilst I was building up my tyre temperatures ... in the concurrent corners it's always a challenge when you see a blue flag but can't see a car in your rear view ... and then there is more than one playing fast !!

The best I saw was 1.3g on right hand corners and 1.25g on left ... it always feels to me that quite a lot of the Anglesey corners are negative camber ... but maybe that's also where my standard suspension shows its limitations .. !!

Anyway, I'm changing to my lightly used PS4S for Spa at the end of this month ... it's a long time since I was there Then they are on for the winter ...

Not sure why I thought it might be you in that one Chris, but I did. Can't actually remember whether you overtook me or vice versa, but I think we were circulating on the same part of the track in at least one of the early sessions. I had guessed we were both pacing the tyre temperature build up in sensible mode.

One of the 992 GT3 RS's was very much "on it" from first thing, and having fun through the traffic. And then of course there was Tim Harvey giving passenger "hot laps" in the RPM Technik prepped 992 RS. I don't think the marshalls had time to get the blue flags into their hands before he was on me and got around me, perfectly safely and without giving slightest cause for concern.

Chris, were your lateral accelerations recorded with the Precision app, or do you have some other form of logging? I'm still using Precision occasionally (but wasn't at Anglesey), and really do need to get back to it, as it seems to have some pretty powerful logging capability nowadays. For various reasons I know I've been driving quite poorly since I got the GT4 RS last year. But as ever, it's coming back together as I learn to drive the car, and get it better suited to my expectations with tweaks. Might be time to horrify myself with a few graphical representations of my ineptitude.

I just use the Porsche Precision on car display ... not the app on my phone which only worked for a short time. It's just an indication to me of how the car (and I ) am going ... I also wondered if there could be some salt on the circuit but it had rained very heavily the previous day ... ???

[JLZ78]

lotusgeek said:

I'm thinking about SRS to replace my 718 GT4. Has anyone driven both and can you share your experience of the noise inside the cabin of the SRS. Not the induction noise, but the general road noise etc with it being a thin fabric roof?

I mostly use my car to drive to the Alps for a week each year and it's a 600 mile motorway drive to get there. This is my concern with the general noise etc. The GT4 is not exactly peaceful, but it's acceptable for the experience. The SRS would be sensational I'm sure, but there is no chance to drive one before committing where I live.

Thanks

The fabric roof doesn’t keep out much in the way of external noise, compared to a hard top. The first time I drove my SRS, I was aware of external noises from other traffic more than I was used to with my hard top.

However, it’s not intrusive at motorway cruising speed and when everything is ‘turned down’ - the sports exhaust, suspension, your right foot, etc, the car is comparable with a standard 718 boxster for NVH. Suspension firmness is almost identical to 718 GT4, and as tyre size is also similar (the same?) tyre roar etc is comparable. There is not really any additional wind noise from the roof, but you can hear traffic approaching from behind on the motorway more easily, compared to a hard top. Press your right foot though and you won’t hear any of it, due to the induction noise.

The fabric roof is a great piece of engineering, and once used to it very quick and simple to put up or take down.

[gtsralph]

For me at normal UK road speeds it's fine and up to 80/90. Above that on autobahn speed not so comfortable for any distance but at least the roof up restricts speed to 120mph.

[lotusgeek]

JeffC said:

just do it and turn the wireless up !

lotusgeek said:

I'm thinking about SRS to replace my 718 GT4. Has anyone driven both and can you share your experience of the noise inside the cabin of the SRS. Not the induction noise, but the general road noise etc with it being a thin fabric roof?

I mostly use my car to drive to the Alps for a week each year and it's a 600 mile motorway drive to get there. This is my concern with the general noise etc. The GT4 is not exactly peaceful, but it's acceptable for the experience. The SRS would be sensational I'm sure, but there is no chance to drive one before committing where I live.

Thanks

Hahaha, thanks 👍

[lotusgeek]

elisered said:

lotusgeek said:

I'm thinking about SRS to replace my 718 GT4. Has anyone driven both and can you share your experience of the noise inside the cabin of the SRS. Not the induction noise, but the general road noise etc with it being a thin fabric roof?

I mostly use my car to drive to the Alps for a week each year and it's a 600 mile motorway drive to get there. This is my concern with the general noise etc. The GT4 is not exactly peaceful, but it's acceptable for the experience. The SRS would be sensational I'm sure, but there is no chance to drive one before committing where I live.

Thanks

Genuinely don t think you ll find road noise an issue at cruising speed - to me it seems no different to it s predecessor 981 Spyder.

Thanks, much appreciated.

[lotusgeek]

JLZ78 said:

lotusgeek said:

I'm thinking about SRS to replace my 718 GT4. Has anyone driven both and can you share your experience of the noise inside the cabin of the SRS. Not the induction noise, but the general road noise etc with it being a thin fabric roof?

I mostly use my car to drive to the Alps for a week each year and it's a 600 mile motorway drive to get there. This is my concern with the general noise etc. The GT4 is not exactly peaceful, but it's acceptable for the experience. The SRS would be sensational I'm sure, but there is no chance to drive one before committing where I live.

Thanks

The fabric roof doesn t keep out much in the way of external noise, compared to a hard top. The first time I drove my SRS, I was aware of external noises from other traffic more than I was used to with my hard top.

However, it s not intrusive at motorway cruising speed and when everything is turned down - the sports exhaust, suspension, your right foot, etc, the car is comparable with a standard 718 boxster for NVH. Suspension firmness is almost identical to 718 GT4, and as tyre size is also similar (the same?) tyre roar etc is comparable. There is not really any additional wind noise from the roof, but you can hear traffic approaching from behind on the motorway more easily, compared to a hard top. Press your right foot though and you won t hear any of it, due to the induction noise.

The fabric roof is a great piece of engineering, and once used to it very quick and simple to put up or take down.

Thanks for the detailed feedback.

[Colinv6]

Picked mine up yesterday. Never driven one and didn’t want to until it arrived. Unbelievable even on the 75 mile motorway home. All the videos I’ve watched a thousand times on YouTube don’t even come close to capturing the drama in real life, and it boggles my brain that there’s another 4k revs to go once it’s run in.

The weather was pretty awful so we had the full roof on, but there is a lot of noticeable wind noise at speeds over 70ish… I was initially wondering if the roof was even on right lol. Not an issue that bothers me as I didn’t buy it as a long distance car but I was wondering if it was normal. Seems it is. What an incredible car!!

[JeffC]

amazing cars, I'm a year in now and still impresses me everytime I drive it.

What were you told regarding running it in ?

[lotusgeek]

gtsralph said:

For me at normal UK road speeds it's fine and up to 80/90. Above that on autobahn speed not so comfortable for any distance but at least the roof up restricts speed to 120mph.

Thanks for the response. Enjoy yours

[lotusgeek]

Colinv6 said:

Picked mine up yesterday. Never driven one and didn t want to until it arrived. Unbelievable even on the 75 mile motorway home. All the videos I ve watched a thousand times on YouTube don t even come close to capturing the drama in real life, and it boggles my brain that there s another 4k revs to go once it s run in.

The weather was pretty awful so we had the full roof on, but there is a lot of noticeable wind noise at speeds over 70ish I was initially wondering if the roof was even on right lol. Not an issue that bothers me as I didn t buy it as a long distance car but I was wondering if it was normal. Seems it is. What an incredible car!!

Stunning! Enjoy the running in process. I love that point where you know you're free to really let it rip. I managed to time my GT4 with arrival on my favourite mountain roads so I could then drive it nice and hard.

[m.barnes]

TDT said:

And driving style.

Listen to the car... if it hasn't got more to give.... drive to what it's got.

Were you at Silverstone on Monday 22nd Sept?

Saw a couple of black 4RS there, one had Recaro Podium seats and looked pretty full on!

[TDT]

m.barnes said:

TDT said:

And driving style.

Listen to the car... if it hasn't got more to give.... drive to what it's got.

Were you at Silverstone on Monday 22nd Sept?

Saw a couple of black 4RS there, one had Recaro Podium seats and looked pretty full on!

No, it wasn’t me.

[Freakuk]

TDT said:

Suspension Secrets now offering spring package standalone.
so this doesn t include any of the other kinematics kit and also not the spring cups for the front?

I think I may go for this, pretty much covers all of my niggles on the road. I've only had the 4RS around 2 months and a 1000 miles so far. So still learning the car over the GT4 but it gets fiesty when pushing on which is good, but could be controlled better.

[LiamH66]

Got GT4 RS with full Suspension Secrets Kinematics package out at Silverstone International yesterday. PEC instructor bellowing in my ear, which always helps me find the better lines. As at Anglesey, the car is much more user-friendly now. Also interesting to have a record of best laps across a couple of cars, and in the GT4 RS as the modifications have been accumulating, all at Silverstone International.

981 GT4

March 2023 - Suspension Secrets setup on standard parts, P Zero. 1:21.63
July 2024 - Suspension Secrets setup on standard parts, Cup 2. 1:21.26

718 GT4 RS

May 2025 - Suspension Secrets setup, front top mounts, and rear toe links, Cup 2. 1:16.30
September 2025 - Suspension Secrets full Kinematics kit, Cup 2. 1:15.28

I generally only do 20-25 full-on laps in the whole day in the these sessions, keeping myself to "out lap, 2-5 quick laps, cooling down lap". (And of course fine dining breakfast, lunch and tea to be had at the PEC...) With the new setup I'm tending to stay out longer, yet I still fitted in more sessions, completing at least 30 timed laps, and getting through a fair bit more fuel. Somehow less tired at the end of it all too, so this is definitely turning from a car that scares me a little into one I can get by the scruff of the neck. Last 3 outings should have seen a lap in the 1:14s, but was thwarted by traffic every time I got back into a rhythm.

Similar conditions on both days I have done this year, but May was a little sunnier, warmer and grippier than yesterday. I never got times for the car "as delivered" at Silverstone International, but I had done a couple of track days before getting anything changed. My gut feel is that the basic geo elements of the Suspension Secrets kit yielded the biggest dividend, possibly 2 seconds a lap. The full Kinematics kit is at least a second faster than that from back to back lap timing evidence.

But that difference in lap time doesn't really do justice to how much my driving pleasure and confidence has improved with the spring rate and ride height changes. It is just awesome, as evidenced by the traces of other people's tyre rubber thrown off onto the front bumper PPF. I was following the Silverstone school Aston Vantage driven by an instructor, after letting him through while tyre warming. My instructor asked me to go careful behind him into the corners. "Christ that thing's fast, and a very good driver," I said, not worried. Yes, but heavy car, he won't be having as easy time as you on the brakes, just leave a decent gap for him to get it wrong!

Just over a year on, I'll never fall out of love with the 6 years I spent with my 981 GT4. However, I am learning to love the GT4 RS in a very similar way. I drove home over a punctuated 3 1/2 hours today, and the induction noise is starting to annoy me less on long motorway journeys. Could it be turning into one of the few cars that is so lovable I can forgive it all its foibles?

Hoping for the weather gods to smile on Croft this Friday coming, and that Suspension Secrets turn up with some spanners. I think it could be even better with a 5-10mm increase in rear ride height!

Liam

[Nuttcase]

Considering a used SRS and there are some nice low mileage WP/PCCB cars available. Does anyone know if there were any minor changes between the MY24 and the MY25? Sometimes Porsche will standardise equipment on the new model year that was previously optional. I couldn't find anything obvious in the specification for each year. I'm assuming all SRS will have the plastic turn plug in the oil reservoir and not the flawed brass insert plug originally installed in the early 992 GT3 (and early 4RS?). Thx

[fridaypassion]

Theres a guy selling a DSC controller on FB its on the Porsche groups and track time classifieds.

On the subject of al these suspension mods I'm still baffled as how the SS kit can work without damping changes. I'm amazed they dont offer the DSC controller as part of their upgrades. It makes a massive improvement.

[LiamH66]

fridaypassion said:

On the subject of al these suspension mods I'm still baffled as how the SS kit can work without damping changes. I'm amazed they dont offer the DSC controller as part of their upgrades. It makes a massive improvement.

I'm sure it does make a massive improvement, but dampers only really affect weight shift transitions and high speed track surface compliance, not steady state acceleration, braking or cornering.

So why does the SS kit work with standard dampers? I'm guessing the front end is a bit overdamped as standard, as stiffening the springs and lowering the ride height doesn't have any noticeable adverse effects on damping. The rear end feels better too, potentially because it's a little underdamped as standard, particularly on rebound.

Having spent countless hours in the past revalving and dyno testing dampers before fitting them to all kinds of vehicles, I'm generally minded to leave dampers until last unless it's something with a lot of suspension travel (e.g. off-road and rally vehicles). Next step for my one will be mag wheels and ceramic brakes, massively reducing unsprung mass, and therefore completely changing the high speed damping requirements.

Because I don't currently have easy access to a damper dyno to double check what's going on with what I get, I'm likely to go for something that's more of a "known thing" than an aftermarket suspension controller (at least known by me). So if I do decide to invest in dampers, it will very likely be Ohlins TTX, and the whole PASM thing will be moot.

Liam