We've already done a film with the latest Porsche 911 GT3, looking very specifically at the manual gearbox.
But the rest of the car's not bad either.
And it seemed a shame to ignore it.
So, welcome to a full review of the nine nine one gen two GT three.
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From within the first mile of driving this car, I wanted to There we are, I said it.
It is that good, I was instantly jealous of anyone that gets to drive one of these every single day.
There is so much to enjoy about it, and at all speeds.
I thought those days might be coming to an end where you can have a car that was just thrilling [INAUDIBLE] RPM in this car's case.
But also just puttering along like this.
The steering in the EPS system they now seem to have got it.
I would love to drive back to back with the 997 because the first time I drove this was just at slow speeds on roads that I know.
But in the wet, and we're on [UNKNOWN] tires And even just cruising around short shifting, there was so much information coming back through the wheel, it was a massive breath of fresh air, to be honest, compared to so many other modern cars.
But it's not just the steering either, this engine is new four litre engine which, actually we'll have a break here and I'll tell you bit more about this engine.
That engine is Essentially from the 911 cop car, so new pistons, new liners, it's got a new crank shaft for the oil feed through the middle.
And most importantly it's got a fixed valve trend, so no hydraulic valve adjusters in there.
They say it won't go out of alignment, well it's good for 200,000 miles certainly thanks to new materials that they've used.
All of this, well, it effectively makes it rev more freely.
It's putting out 500 horsepower so that's 493 brake horsepower and 339 pounds feet of torque.
So there we are.
Now we know a bit more about the technicalities involved in the internals but just to drive around in it, there's something to enjoy At every level.
There's now more torque low down, so if you short shift at 4,000 or 5,000 RPM you don't feel like you're missing out somehow.
But of course because you've got the manual gearbox as well, actually, just shifting is enjoyable.
So, again, you don't feel like you're missing out if you don't use all 9,000 RPM.
So let's go through this engine and.
So that's four, five, it came fast, seven.
[SOUND] You just know it's through [SOUND] [LAUGH]
All these levels and it seems to kick again at 5,000 RPM and then at about 7,500 RPM.
It just, it's so exciting in the top end.
It rewards literally whatever you're doing.
On the road puttering around, it's enjoyable.
It sounds great.
But on track.
I haven't driven it on track, but it must be sensational as well.
Just [INAUDIBLE] time [INAUDIBLE] higher echelons of the [INAUDIBLE] range.
Just brilliant.
The next thing I wanted to talk about was the ride in this car, because it was something that I actually didn't notice.
And that might sound like bad road testing, I suppose it probably is.
But I didn't notice it right until almost the end.
We'd been filming up in North Wales, I drove it all the way home and got onto roads that I know really well.
And it suddenly occurred to me that I went over a particular patch of road that I know really well just how well the car had coped with it.
In fact, how it hadn't really noticed it all seemingly.
And I think that really speaks volumes because that's what you want, fantastic suspension to do.
You want it to be unnoticed, unruffled to give you all the feedback that you want but not to be constantly [UNKNOWN] I wish it was a bit more comfortable over here, or I wish it was a bit firmer there, it just dealt with everything.
Of course it's a sport pattern which [INAUDIBLE] slightly, I did press it, pressed it, yeah, it was a bit firmer.
That would be suitable for track I thought.
And then I turned it off again and that was pretty much it because in its standard setting it just does everything you want on the road.
It's that good.
One of the curious things about this GT3 is as soon as I got into it, it felt small, which a 911 should really.
They always have done it, it always felt more wieldy.
The extraordinary thing is, I can remember driving a 991 for the first time and thinking how massive it felt compared to a 997.
And yet this, now, feels, I suppose like a 997 did, really.
Some of that, I think, is actually because we got the steering feel back in this car.
[SOUND] So it feels more wieldy again.
Ugh.
We've got lovely dry roads now to enjoy this on.
But even when I was driving this around in freezing conditions this morning, for a start, you've got enough feel to enjoy the car.
You've also got staggering amounts of traction.
Which not all cars on companies have.
I'm talking about you, BMW.
[SOUND] The chassis balance on this second generation GT3 is another thing that just seems to have to stacked stuff up a notch.
It's helped obviously again, I keep going back to it, but buy that steering because you feel more in touch with that front end.
And the fact that.
You can drive it around at low speeds in the wet and you always know where the front is and you can feel that it's gonna push a little bit.
Which is, no, understeering is not a feeling that you sort of intrinsically want in a car, perhaps.
But in a 911 it's all part of that car's DNA.
And you know it leads to other things.
It's the gateway to In a way the handling for the rest of the car.
So when you're driving it around and to have that feeling, know how the front end is behaving is absolutely crucial to it being a 911 really.
But the harder you're pushing on dry roads, the way you get into a corner, the way the rear follows, and it feels like such a short chassis and then you can get on the power And you feel the rim moving round.
You can use attraction but it helps you out of the corner, it seems to straighten the line and it's just such a brilliant feeling, you don't have to be right on the edge, you're gonna try to get this feeling either.
And It makes it, again I'll come back the word, it's involving.
Their 6-speed shift seems to have got better as well.
[UNKNOWN] since the first time I tried it which was in the 911 R. And it was quite light in there, which wasn't a bad thing, but this it seems like to me it's got a bit more of the character [INAUDIBLE], which still has to be the absolute benchmark for being [UNKNOWN]
speed manual.
I just love the fact that every you have can be enjoyable.
The power shift is really only exciting when you're right off of the top end and you're marveling it the milliseconds or the lack thereof that it takes to shift.
In this, even short shift.
Doesn't matter, you're still doing something.
You're still interacting with the car [NOISE]
Now, some of you have been waiting for this film for some time.
But one of the benefits of the fact that you had to wait a little while for this film is that I've subsequently driven the 991 Gen 2 GT3 RS.
And so I can actually compare the two cars, so It's [INAUDIBLE] driven different roads.
One was in Germany.
[INAUDIBLE] RS and the GT 3 was in the UK.
The biggest difference is obviously, well, straightaway, you can't get a manual in the RS.
Which is a shame, but equally, I understand it.
For all that obviously I've said in the other film, I love manual gear boxes.
I do appreciate a pedal shift and I can understand that the RS Is brilliant and it's a fantastic, the PDK is incredible.
It shifts right off at 9,000 RPM, unbelievable.
And it does help you get the most from the chassis in the easiest fashion possible.
It's a car about lap times.
And I think that is Supposed to be possibly the biggest distinction now because the engines honestly didn't rebuild very different [INAUDIBLE] they are essentially the same engine.
There is a little more power in the RS but we're not talking big differences here.
The spec of the two cars was slightly curious because they were sort of the wrong way around in some respects.
So we had steel brakes and no cage.
In the RS by the steering wheel.
And then we had a full cage in [INAUDIBLE] in the GT 3. So slightly odd.
And in fact, the GT 3 therefore really almost felt more racy than the RS.
And I suppose that, again, just shows how close they are.
From the outside, still the RS looks like the more dramatic car, looks like the track refugee that you want it to.
The steering, again I actually preferred in the standard GT3.
I'm not sure if it's to do with the cameras potentially in the RS Which give it that little more agility and help get the most out of it on track.
But I remember just around the straight ahead where the GT3 left you feeling really, really connected because it was just perfectly weighted, there was no slack at all.
And the RS, very subtle, but it just felt like it took just a moment or two to come into its ideal weighting.
So Yeah again for me the GT3 felt like all you'd need to be honest so, and you get the box so the two cars it was the GT3 that left a greater impression on me I suppose and I'm not sure that the RS gave me so much more that I would feel that I desperately wanted I'd like to try one with a packer Perhaps it might elevate it that little bit further the minute you felt you needed that addition to a standard GT3.
Talking aspects, I do have a point to make about that.
There's also been a lot of talk about whether you should have a wing on you or not.
911 GG3 or not because they now offer deterring.
[UNKNOWN] on the manual, I think it just adds so much to this car as you can tell if you watch our other film on this.
But to be honest, to beforehand I thought yeah I'd like the idea of a deterring because it's a bit saccular.
Having driven this I now literally couldn't care just the DT3 whether it's steering or not, that's what I want.
I probably would do that the framework in the back cuz it actually makes it.
Well [UNKNOWN] on that note, I always thought, if one day I have the money, I would have this [UNKNOWN] my bucket in the driver seat and then I'm getting [UNKNOWN] Hinged bucket for the passenger seat, so it blocks off the back, and they're mismatched seats.
Some people with OCD will be going crazy at this point, I know, but there we are, that's what I do.
All in all, the GT3 is fabulous, it's a car that is hard not to recommend, I mean, it's just brilliant.
Perhaps it's summed up best by the fact that.
The question you get asked a lot in this job is what's your favorite car?
And of course, you want the five car garage.
But you can't go into that with a lot of people.
So I always said, if I happen to win the lottery on a weekend, the car that I would walk out and buy straight away was a GT 3. And that's been the way for a long time.
It used to be whatever the current one was.
Basically, that was Generally my favorite car.
With the 991 Gen 1, that wasn't the case.
And I was less like, I was like, what would be the car I'd walk straight out and buy?
With this car, it's come back again.
It feels that good.
I just desperately wanted to have one in my life after living with it for a couple days.
It was absolutely brilliant.
I did so many miles in it.
And loved every single one of them.
It is a tremendous, fabulous, wonderful, beguiling, interactive, amazing car.
[CAR ENGINE].
Wow, you just wouldn't get bored of that, ever.
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