The car was supposed to arrive end of January. Out of the blue I get the call on Friday Jan 10 – “the car is here”

Trouble is “here” is LA area, and home is Silicon Valley. So I hastily booked last minute flights for a dad-and-lad adventure. Saturday in the AM, about 18 hours after getting the call we departed SJC , LAX bound.

We were met at the airport by the dealer’s driver, who was piloting a Panamera Turbo. I explained to my son this was basically a Porsche limo. The driver was keen to take us on the scenic route. A short stint up PCH then through the canyons to the dealership.

We handled the paperwork. The salesman gave me an overview of the car, and asked me to pull into the service area.

The car has the front end lift system. I figured this would be a smart upgrade given the ride height and long front overhang. I also figured I couldn't let my wife drive the car because I just know she’ll forget to raise the front. So what happens; I drive the car 20 feet, forget to raise the front and scrap the splitter on the dealer’s lot. 20 feet into my GT3 ownership. 20 feet.

Fortunately there was no damage. Lessons learned; the car is really low, get the lift system and don’t forget, it's not just the wife.

Dropped my son in the passenger seat, along with his kid's booster seat. The car has a weight sensor on the passenger seat. Under a threshold (100 lbs?) the airbag automatically deactivates. Worked a charm with my son, and his kid booster seat fit great!

Now late afternoon, we head south to have dinner with friends.

Sunday morning, we are back in the car headed for Mulholland and some canyon running. Incredible weather, is this really January? We are driving a section called the snake and spot an old friend from the POC. So we pull over to catch up. Turns out he is there with his 997 GT3.


We continued the journey. Next stop - Singer vehicle design. I’ve known the owner for years, but had never visited the shop. If you don’t know these cars, they are a very impressive resto modded version of the early 911. We chatted about the Singer cars, of which he had several in various stages of completion. And they checked out the GT3.

Now late afternoon on Sunday, we hit the highway north back to Silicon valley.

All in we had a crazy 48 hours, covered a good chunk of California, sampled some of the Socal car scene and now have nearly 600 miles behind the wheel of a 2014 GT3. However, the driving was pretty tame and nowhere near the (impressive) limits. This is break-in period and I did have my son in the car.

Still, my face is sore from the non-stop grin.

Right. So what about the car?

I can speak with some authority here, it’s awesome. Feels like a detuned racecar that has been outfitted with a nice leather interior.

Keep your foot out of it and the car feels pretty normal. A sports car for sure, but docile. I could easily daily drive this.

Open the throttle and wind the revs, it screams. Like a beast lurking just below the surface. Seriously.

The car felt planted, really solid. The faster it went, the more stable it felt. However we did not explore high speed boundaries.

Specifics:

PDK – this was a tough one for me. I really would have ordered the manual if it was available. However having driven it, I think the PDK might be better after all.

With 7 gears, the ratios are pretty tight and the revs don’t drop as much between shifts. That means you shift more often. With 475 HP on tap and the short rev drops, when accelerating the shifts happen in fast succession – one after the other. Bam, bam, bam….. I can’t row the gears that fast.

The PDK sport mode is seriously sport mode. The shift point RPMs are much higher.

Still, more than once my left leg was reaching for the clutch when starting or stopping the car. Then I’d remember, and feel like a bit of sellout.

I’ll reserve final judgement till I get more time in the car.

Regular driving, from a standstill the PDK feels like a manual – even a little choppy like the clutch is not being engaged real smooth. At speed it’s like butter.

My son’s comment; “this car feels really mechanical”. Astute for 6 yo. He’s right.

Sport exhaust – great sound. Gutteral and deep. Even with the sport activated it seems no louder under light throttle. You could leave it in sport all the time. But open it up and it really screams with sport on. The sound is awesome.

Road noise – can be considerable. Varied a great deal based on road surface. Under light throttle the tire noise was louder than the engine. On some surfaces it was considerable. The cabin is not a quiet place. Nowhere near racecar loud, but not quiet. I think high-end audio gear would be somewhat pointless – unless you play your music ear-bleed loud.


Seats – I have the 4 way power. I could use more lumbar support and tighter side bolsters.

I would prefer a shell, perhaps recaro pole positions.

Entrance and egress is mildly sporting. It's nothing like climbing over a cage, but you really sit low in the car and you slide down into it.

Seatbelts – felt inadequate. I want harnesses in this car.

PASM – two position – regular and sport. Honestly I had a hard time telling the difference. The effect is small.

Rear wheel steering – really didn’t notice anything unusual when driving. There was no discernable transition between low speed opposite-steer and high speed same-steer.

PDCC – The system was really in the background. You are not aware of its functioning, it just does its job. The car cornered extremely flat, yet seemingly without using outrageous spring rates.

Tire wear – we shall see. I noticed an odor when getting out of the car that smells like tires. I know what you are thinking, but no this was not after hard driving. I’ve seen this in previous generations and it was accelerated tire wear despite proper alignment.

I wonder about the rear wheel steering and how that will play into tire wear.

Suspension members – this car share the same suspension members with the RSR cup racecars. It is not the same as the regular 991. Almost all the members are different. I will provide details on this later later.

 

Congrats! I look forward to further posts. Enjoy!

 

Congratulations Chuck. I only have a 997.1 GT3 and I love the car. I can only imagine how nice yours is.

 

Congrats Chuck

 

Great review and congrats on the car. Thanks for posting!

 

Congrats and thanks for the detailed review!

 

Great story Chuck, please keep updating. Since most of us don't have our cars or can it get one due to allocation shortages it was nice to share the "GT3 birth" experience with you. I hope you enjoy it in great health.

 

great review, did you get the all leather wheel instead of alcantara

 

Congrats!!!!

I didn't think the GT3 had PDCC?? Maybe I am wrong?

Have fun and keep reporting.......

 

Paul that's a great car. In some ways I think better looking than the new ones.


Dark Knight, it has the smooth leather wheel. I like it, though I haven't driven the alcantara type.

 

Hey chuck well at least you got the first one out of the way eh? Good way to do it! Sounds like a very positive start for you so far and thanks for sharing.

I'd say the harness and bucket seat stuff is going to get trickier and trickier for us to activate/do with these newer cars/controllers. Hopefully with some dealer support / help etc...

 

Congrats! Enjoy your new toy!

 

I didn't think it was available with PDCC either.

What were you driving before this car? Im very curious to how this car would function as a daily driver.

Congrats Chuck!

 

Thanks Chuck for the good wright up and insight, much appreciated. More photo's if you can tear yourself away from driving please.....

 

Great write up and cant wait for my baby which should be here next week. FYI, there is no PDDC on the 991 GT3.