![]() It’s what driving for the heck of driving is all about.In general, there are three different types of transmissions. Put in the effort, risk the mistakes, enjoy the rewards. The answer, then, is to have a PDK GT3 as the daily hack and a manual GT3 Touring for the weekend.īut if I only had exactly £127,820 to spend on one… make mine a manual. The internet doesn’t allow agreeing to disagree. With the swan-neck wing mounts, that wholesale front suspension overhaul and all those macro weight savings incrementally upping the GT3’s game, the manual ‘box sticks out as more of an anachronism than ever. So you could argue an old-fashioned stick’n’pedal in here is as inappropriate as a thatched roof on the Burj Khalifa. And they have paddles, because paddles are faster. This car has a motorsport engine and its aero is borrowed from Porsche’s wildly successful competition cars. Let’s not forget that the ‘GT3’ initials refer to a set of racing regs. I can quite see how plenty of people will prefer the PDK because it makes the nine-grand redline easier to exploit, and chops lumps off a lap time. I’m not a bleeding heart manual fetishist. Which you choose to buy – or fantasise over – will come down to preference, not the flaws or boons of either. It’s a spectacular car, which offers a choice of two excellent methods of changing gear. I think we can agree we’re now at the point where this is no ‘better’ with this sort of first-world problem. I love that, for all its technical nous and bleeding edge development, the new GT3 demands you bloody well concentrate. I found it an addictively rewarding experience. But on British A and B-roads, and even some motorways, the GT3 needs babysitting.Īnd that can make deliberately removing your hand from the wriggling steering wheel to juggle gears… fraught. Not in Germany, I imagine, and certainly not on most racetracks. For an electrically assisted set-up the sheer quantity of feedback is outstanding.Įxcept, this means the wheel requires management. ‘Wow, feel this! Did you notice that? Cor, a surface change. It reminded me of a Lotus, constantly fizzing with enthusiasm and tugging at your hand like an excitable toddler. ![]() The pay-off is the steering feels busier now – even a little hyperactive depending on the road surface. There’s no weight over the front wheels remember, but the faith you can put in the front axle to bite, hook up and scythe through a turn is utterly silly. Porsche’s brought this onto a street-legal 911 for the first time – despite being a smidge heavier and a pain to package – because there are benefits to be mined in how much of the front tyres remain in contact with the road when you’re really going for it. You’ll remember the big news for this GT3 isn’t really the wing or the engine: it’s the front suspension, which is a double wishbone set-up for the first time, with considerably firmer spring rates. Meanwhile, the car performs throttle blips for you in Sport and Track mode, but if you prefer to heel and toe yourself, the computer senses you’re giving the throttle a tickle and backs off. And even if you flap about the world on hideous freak feet like me, there’s space for a size 12 to rest comfortably alongside the clutch once you’re cruising. The GT3’s is lighter and you don’t need a telescopic leg to operate it. I always found the Cayman GT4’s legendary manual slightly blighted by a l-o-n-g travel, fairly heavy clutch. And this manic engine is such a savage that the usual Porsche moan of over-long gearing just didn’t register here. Just a round top with a glossy finish, encased in suede. It’s not simply a case of ‘I like cars and I take my driving seriously, so I’ll have three pedals, please'.įirst things first: the gearchange itself is sublime: less stiff than older GT3s, with a precise mechanical sensation as you slot between the cogs and sense the teeth meshing. Spare no nerdy detail: what’s it actually like?Ībsorbing, but an acquired taste. If you tick the box for the manual, you can at least argue you’re being faithful to what the engineers would have wanted. This GT3’s got a carbon bonnet, thinner glass and even the moulding that covers the void where the rear seats would’ve lived has shed grammes. But Porsche goes to eye-wateringly geeky lengths to keep the GT3’s weight respectable as the car gets ever bigger, techier, and they bolt more wing to its bottom.
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