Wednesday 28th August 2013

991 GT3 fights back: Time For Tea?

Where does the new 991 Turbo leave the GT3? Let project chief Andreas Preuninger tell you

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With the 991 Turbo roadtests in and the collective slackened jaws, thumped ribs and watered eyes of the world's motoring media just about recovered are we on the cusp of a new fraternal rivalry within the 911 range? After all, traditionally poles apart with very different customers it'd seem the 991 GT3 and Turbo are converging on increasingly narrow ground.

GT3 'want' factor might be increased on viewing

Perhaps that's why the GT3 team has been given a bit of Porsche air time to plant its flag on the 'enthusiast car' as project head Andreas Preuninger describes it. Provocatively timed just as the Turbo reviews are hitting the airwaves.

While he wasn't out driving the car on the launch last week we got our man Dan Prosser chatting with Preuninger's opposite numbers in the Turbo development team to check the heat of the rivalry between the two.

The GT3 team's case is stated here in, for a corporate promo, pretty straight-talking fashion. But that's Preuninger's way and, having met him, the idea of him musing on PDK versus manual (yes, even he can't resist it) on the back roads of the Black Forest seems believable. Read what the Turbo team have to say for themselves in our story tomorrow...

 

[Aftershox]

GT3 everytime

[Thermonuclear]

GT3 will be awesome. Turbo will probably murder it in a straight line and be better for daily stuff, but thats not the GT3's point really is it.

[Davey S2]

Whilst the new GT3 seems to be able to handle the role of an every day car, especially now the heavy clutch is a thing of the past ( I still think the GT3 and Turbo will appeal to different buyers.

[monthefish]

The (timeous) release of that video suggests that they felt it necesarry to respond to criticism of the GT3 moving away from being an emotional car, along the lines of 'the rebuttal confirming the existence of the issue'.

[XTR2Turbo]

Interesting that he says gt3 is an enthusiasts car, not about outright speed but rewarding driver.

IMHO the loss of the manual gearbox goes against this ethos. They have bowed to stats and outright performance above driver rewards and involvement.

It is an important part of it's make up (as important as suspension and engine character) that differentiated the GT3 not just from many of the turbos sold but also the competition.

Where can you go now if you want to buy a high end manual sports car?

Noble?
Who else

Porsche has followed the market rather than risk being individual.

[Crimp a Length!]

I've always thought a manual box is a sports car particularly a 911 is the only way but the PDK system is phenomenal and the speed of change is instant.
This is an awesome car, the Harris test is also an interesting watch on this new GT3.

[BelperJim]

The final 2000rpm sound fantastic! Only 911 I'd prefer to own would be a Singer.

[Digga]

The lack of a stick will certainly avoid most of the aggro (for owners and Porsche) associated with the infamous engine over-rev logs.

To be fair to Porsche in that respect, going on YouTube and looking at some of the (very!) amatuer in-car footage makes me cringe.

[Mermaid]

Digga said:

The lack of a stick will certainly avoid most of the aggro (for owners and Porsche) associated with the infamous engine over-rev logs.

.

The market for GT3's just got bigger.

[STiG911]

Crimp a Length! said:

I've always thought a manual box is a sports car particularly a 911 is the only way but the PDK system is phenomenal and the speed of change is instant.
This is an awesome car, the Harris test is also an interesting watch on this new GT3.

+1 on the Harris vid
I'm leaning this way too - much as I love the manual shift on my 997, Colchester OPC lent me a PDK Cayman S last weekend and even though it had buttons rather than paddles, it still blew my mind.
It really does focus you on the driving (and, if we're all honest, make you a bit of a Hoonigan, particularly in Sport Plus - the aggressive changes are really addictive ) whether you're 'up it' or just shleping about. Brilliant.

[Arenki]

I'm a lifetime detractor of the automatic transmission in sports cars. I've always preferred the manual stick due to the intimacy that it offers. I was very much on the 'oh god what have Porsche done?' bandwagon when the new GT3 was announced as PDK only. However after driving one...the PDK blew my mind. The most accomplished double-clutcher i've driven. possibly the best car i've driven.

[Goofnik]

Davey S2 said:

Whilst the new GT3 seems to be able to handle the role of an every day car, especially now the heavy clutch is a thing of the past ( I still think the GT3 and Turbo will appeal to different buyers.

Not only that, but consider that a Carrera S (or Carrera 4S) with the Powerkit and PDK is within spitting difference of a GT3 in terms of price. A very different kind of buyer chooses the GT3, though the Carrera S with Powerkit buyer is a bit of a different bird itself.

[V8Bart]

proper car vid that. Love it.

[zeta3]

when will we see a romantic engineer at McLaren's?

[k-ink]

Hopefully the next GT2 will combine the Turbo grunt and GT3 finesse.

[Mermaid]

k-ink said:

Hopefully the next GT2 will combine the Turbo grunt and GT3 finesse.

The Terminator

[Terminator X]

Arenki said:

I'm a lifetime detractor of the automatic transmission in sports cars. I've always preferred the manual stick due to the intimacy that it offers. I was very much on the 'oh god what have Porsche done?' bandwagon when the new GT3 was announced as PDK only. However after driving one...the PDK blew my mind. The most accomplished double-clutcher i've driven. possibly the best car i've driven.

Aren't they simply just widening the market for the GT3 whilst saving themselves the cost of making a manual version too? Of course they will alienate a few of the old guard however they'll probably pick up a lot more new punters as they go.

TX.

[Mermaid]

Timely.

[kazino]

It's all well that for him he thinks the pdk is the way forward, but why not offer a manual for those who don't? Like they do with the regular 991.

[sagarich]

Cracking video!